Playing With Fire
by Wxnderland
Summary: Gang/Mafia Au, no powers - Someones made a deal with the devil back in middle school and subsequently it all goes downhill from there. Now as seniors Blossom realises she can't socialise to save her life, Bubbles never wants to sit in an uber again and Buttercup just wants some damn peace Original pairings: Reds, Blues and Greens T/M. BOOKCOVER MADE BY LEEFUL
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Gang AU – no powers cause nah that ruins everything lol**

 **ORIGINAL PAIRINGS – REDS, BLUES AND GREENS**

 **They have human appendages cause what the fuck how would they text without fingers—they're teenagers.**

* * *

 _(So baby Simmer down and pucker up,_

 _You're about to get your mind fucked)_

Freezing, Blossom Utonium finds herself unconsciously rubbing her arms in a terrible effort to stay warm.

It's almost two in the _motherfucking_ morning and she's standing at a bus stop that looks like its seen better days. She's continuously shifting her weight from one leg to the other wondering just _how_ Bubbles could possibly be running around in such short skirts in February weather—granted, the blonde wore tights but this was just ridiculous.

She was in freaking skinny jeans for god's sake and at this point she was pretty freaking certain her toes had frozen off.

Shivering, the ginger haired teen glared down at her smartphone with resentment as she reread her most recent conversation

 **Blossom: Hey, I just left Mitch's party. Do you think you could pick me up? Please? My ride bailed**

 **Dexter: Babe, I'm so sorry! I can't pick you up, my parents are out with the car and even if they weren't I'm still way in Megaville, out of town for my work experience. Where are Bubbles and Buttercup?**

 **Blossom: Ah, it's fine I'll just take the bus. Bubbles left a little before me with some friends, I have no idea where honestly, she texted me when she had already left otherwise I would've joined her.**

 **Blossom: But then again, not to stereotype but she hangs out with the cheerleaders and jocks and they're hella shady**

 **Dexter: Where did she go?**

 **Blossom: They probably went out to eat since the food was pretty much non-existent when we got there**

 **Dexter: and Buttercup?**

 **Blossom: half way through the party, she and Mitch pretty much went MIA**

 **Dexter:...well that's rather inappropriate, he's the host of the party**

 **Blossom: I just hope they use condoms at this point tbh**

She rolled her eyes. Honestly, she wouldn't be this mad if it wasn't for the weather

Or the fact that Mitch lived in the dodgiest area in all of Townsville. If Buttercup wasn't dating the ruffian or the fact that she had known Mitch since literally kindergarten, Blossom really doubts she would've even shown up.

Checking the bus timings on her phone, she's suddenly staring at the message informing her that her bus is going to be delayed by thirty minutes and her eyes have bulged out at the sheer audacity.

"You have got to be kidding me" she mutters, pocketing her phone and looking around the street in distress.

Her eyes land on vandalised walls filled with crude graffiti and stray dogs roaming the streets. Her lips get pulled into a thin line as she sees a playground with a few stoners sitting on broken equipment and how the streetlights seemed to either be unreasonably dim or with shattered bulbs.

"You have got to be freaking kidding me!" she says, louder and more distressed

Nothing in this god forsaken district seemed remotely safe and welcoming and Blossom was half contemplating walking back to Mitch's house.

At least then, he could drive her home—that is if he wasn't still preoccupied with other duties

Blossom snorted in disgust and attempted to rack her brain for more ideas.

Even if she called Bubbles right now, her sister was probably already home and without a car. What was she expecting her to do? Fly here?

The Professor was in the same part of town with Dexter, he had the car so it wasn't like he could drop her home.

The world fucking hated her

She supposes walking to the next bus stop can't possibly be that bad, because with the way things are going she's definitely going to freeze to death if she doesn't move or get somewhere warm.

Pulling out her smartphone once again, she's looking up her route home and realises her battery is on a heart breaking percentage of 20.

With great reluctance, she finds herself walking and squinting through the wind, positive that her brand new hat is going to blow off to Timbuktu.

Her face is probably ridiculously red is the first thought that comes to her mind as she's stuffing her hands into her pockets, desperate to retain some form of warmth while listening to the digital woman give her directions through her earphones.

She's faced with a very unappealing looking alleyway and is suddenly questioning google map's sense of direction.

Blossom's almost considering going back to her bus stop before realising that she's walked much too far to even attempt to walk back.

Quite honestly, the thought of her passing out in the comforts of her own beautiful pink bed were what kept her going through these dark times.

 _This is going quite well_ she idly thinks as whereas before, her head had been down while walking through the run down alleyway, but now nearing the end and realising that the teenagers in the corner injecting god knows what into their veins in the distance really weren't going to give her the time of day she could hold her head high.

She's unconsciously giving some poor man whose shivering in the corner her change before pity overflows her with how the man's body is being wrecked with shivers and how he's in the thinnest t-shirt imaginable.

Her heart absolutely breaks when she takes in the sight and before she knows it she's unwrapping her thick scarf. Her neck is suddenly exposed to the cold air and she's supressing her own shivers as she gives him her scarf.

It's so thick that he's able to bundle himself up like it's a shawl.

He's thanking her profusely and Blossom barely feels like she's done a thing for him. Her eyes are now staring at his head, now covered by her scarf and it's like she's on autopilot.

Suddenly, the gorgeous hat that she was wearing—that her boyfriend had almost spent a fortune on for her birthday is being removed from her head and she's bending down to place it on his lap.

It was so fucking cold—she's wearing the thickest coat imaginable and timberlands, two—not one but two pairs of socks on and she can't feel anything.

The man himself snaps his head up at her in concern "That's—no, the scarf is more than enough, please"

Quite honestly, Blossom would've probably removed her coat too but there were so many homeless people on these streets—so fucking many that she had no idea on what to do

"Take it" she's already moved on, resuming her route

"Wait miss!"

Blossom frowns, turning back around with her hands stuffed back into her coat pockets

"Please stay away from this part of town. It's not safe, you shouldn't be here."

Her eyes soften immediately, and she's making a mental note to speak to the mayor about the homeless in Townsville.

"I will"

She's out of the alleyway within moments and she's blowing warm air into her hands. She almost jumps six feet into the air when she hears screaming in the distance and her eyes are wide in alarm.

Blossom's immediately on the other side of the street, speed walking in whatever direction her phone's instructing her to go without second thought.

Her heart almost jumps into her throat as she's hearing gun shots— _gun shots_

 _Nononono_

She's slipping into an alleyway immediately, half panicking because _holy hell_ she really does not want to get in the middle of anything as fucking insane as a gun fight

What once had been a quiet neighbourhood had engines roaring to fill in the silence. She's gawking at the sounds of more gun shots and yelling.

 _Whatthehellwhatthehellwhatthehell_

WHAT THE HELL

Her jaw drops as her eyes are suddenly landing on several motorcycles driving down the street along with young adults and teenagers running down the streets.

She gasps as she sees one rip his helmet off and throw—he fucking throws the thing at another man's face, laughing hysterically while he was driving.

 _Is he fucking insane!?_

Blossom wants to scream, seeing the guy throw away his fucking helmet of all things—the thing that would literally shield his head from any gun shots or if he fell off.

 _These people were idiots_

She realises she's focused far too much on this one miniscule fact and Blossom is absolutely ready to sprint down the alleyway she was in but something stops her.

The auburn haired teen finds herself squinting because holy shit she actually recognised the guy

She's honestly stumped until she sees the raven haired teen grip someone's entire head and slam them into the brick wall. She's fucking terrified seeing blood— _oh god there was so much blood_ roll down the stranger's temple and drip onto the concrete

Her breath gets caught in her throat at the actions before she finds herself remembering

 _Remembering two raven haired kids grabbing each other's faces in the sandbox, stretching their cheeks_

 _Remembering two inseparable raven haired kids sharing gummy worms together before one of them would shove them up their nose in effort to gross out the other_

 _Remembering moving up to middle school, where those two, once inseparable kids were growing apart and no longer racing, skateboarding down the streets anymore_

Her hands fly up to her mouth as she's finally pieced together just who the teenager was

Butch

It was Butch Jojo

" _What happened to Butch?" Bubbles asked, nibbling on a piece of toast as she was reaching for the orange juice in the refrigerator one Thursday morning_

 _Buttercup had tensed instantly "Nothing, he's fine"_

" _How come he doesn't come around anymore?"_

" _I don't know, god Bubbles I'm not his mother"_

 _Blossom frowned "You guys got into a fight again? I don't see why you're so upset. You'll be throwing water balloons onto people from the terrace again by next week" she rolled her eyes while neatly organising her school bag_

" _I can ask Boomer to tell him to apologise if you want" the blonde chirped_

" _Can you guys just fuck off and mind your own business?" the raven haired preteen snapped, throwing her bag over her shoulder and promptly storming out._

She stumbled back in surprise. She hadn't heard from, let alone _seen_ Butch Jojo since middle school.

Buttercup had never bothered to tell her about what happened between the two and as for his brothers—

The sight of Butch whipping out a gun of all things has Blossom reeling from her spot in the alleyway, eyes the size of dinner plates.

Blossom's immediately stepping back, alarmed. Whipping her entire body into the other direction, she's suddenly sprinting down the alleyway.

 _That was Butch Jojo_

She recognised the emblem he was sporting on the back of his jacket.

Butch Jojo terrorising civilians—Buttercup's childhood best friend was a part of one of the biggest gangs in Townsville.

By the time she's made it to the end, she's only stepped out for a second before she's suddenly whipped back in and somehow her back is pressed up against the wall and she's staring into deep red-red eyes—

"Brick?" the name slips out instantly because who the hell else has such red eyes?

 _No fucking way_

 _No fucking way!_

Her already wide eyes have grown in size and her jaw is dropped at the sheer absurdity of her situation.

He looks at her, eyebrows furrowing before his eyes flicker towards her red hair clips, and she can actually see the recollection in his eyes as he figures out who she is.

"Blossom Utonium" he recognises "What's it been? Five years, or six?"

She swears she had seen his expression soften for a split second, probably in nostalgia before he's raising an eyebrow at her.

"I don't know five? You guys left during our final year of middle school"

Brick nods, "Right, eighth grade" his entire posture relaxed after recognising her.

It was Blossom Utonium for fucks sake. Townsville's local goody-two shoes.

"How've you and your sisters been?" he asks, moving to the side to give her some air, casually pulling out a packet of Marlboros and Blossom almost wants to throw herself into the gun fight that was literally happening on the other side of the alleyway.

"We've been good" she responds, cautiously because what the hell is a person to do in a situation like this "what about you and your brothers?"

Something about Brick's expression shifts and he's turning towards her somewhat more seriously than before, lighting his cigarette before taking a drag

"Good"

She yelps at the sound of more gunfire in the distance while Brick seems ridiculously unfazed by the entire thing

 _Seriously, where the hell were the police?!_

Blossom can literally feel the tension that had suddenly occurred in the atmosphere and slowly starts making her way out of the alleyway

"Well it was great seeing you Brick but it's super late and I really should be going—"

A yelp escapes her lips as she's suddenly pulled back in—for the second freaking time into the alleyway, her back resuming its position against the brick wall, his entire arm blocking her path with his hand besides her head.

Blossom's eyes are wide in alarm "Wha—"

"Here's the thing, Princess" he dwells, a small smirk on his expression at the other teen's shock

"You saw something you shouldn't have" he says sighing, acting as if it's _her_ fault that she's in the situation that she's in

"You mean seeing world war three in the streets?!"

Brick looks at her, amused "We both know that's not what I meant. You saw him"

Blossom frowns, her heart beating rapidly in her chest "Him?" her hand reaching for her phone

"Blossom" he says voice warning, his patience finally gone as he snatches the object out of her hands and pockets it

She flinches, feeling goose bumps rise on her pale skin

 _Please say my name again_

"Alright fine, but how could I not notice Butch acting like a fucking idiot throwing his entire helmet off in a freaking gun fight?!"

He snorts and Blossom's suddenly freaking out about just how close and in on her personal space her old childhood friend _(cough and old crush cough cough)_ is.

Brick starts playing with a strand of her hair, having the audacity to be looking completely normal about the whole ordeal and if she wasn't scared shitless she would've probably smacked him.

"Where's your hat and gloves? You're not the type to be going out in just a coat, even if the thing looks thicker than my wallet"

Blossom's nose scrunches up in disgust "Wow. Not like it's of your business or anything, but I gave my hat and scarf to someone else who needed it much more than I did"

Brick stares at her blankly for a few seconds before laughing—actually laughing at her

"Fucking typical, you haven't changed at all!"

"Yeah, unlike you" she mutters, frowning up at him

The pink orbed teen flinched, when more gun shouts and shouts could be heard. Alarmed, the red haired girl spins around, staring at the other end of the alleyway where all the commotion was taking place.

"Ignore it"

She gawks "Excuse me but that's your brother out there! He could freaking die Brick!"

"Then we would all be spared of his shitty grammar and absolute moronic behaviour" he rolls his eyes, unfazed.

Blossom's jaw drops entirely "You don't care?!"

"He knows what he's doing, don't worry about him"

She thinks that she's going to faint.

Brick takes another long drag and Blossom is doing absolutely everything in her power not to breathe in the toxic air that he was emitting.

"What, so you guys live here now?"

He shrugs "You could say that"

Blossom feels the strong urge to twitch her eye and already she knows it's not from the lack of sleep

"What about Boomer? If Butch's out there taking part in the hunger games, where's Boomer?" their names slip out so naturally, even after all this time

"He's around"

WOWOWOWOW he was as useful as talking to the fucking wall that her back was still up against against.

She could feel her body reaching its limits, exhaustion taking over, she had a feeling she would be seeing a lot more of the hat wearing asshole after today. Why was nothing going her way?

"Can I go now? Please, it's like almost four in the morning and I'm about to freeze to death."

"Fine, I'll drive you"

Her jaw drops "I can walk just fine-!"

"Shut the fuck up" he snaps and her mouth immediately glues shut at the harshness of his voice.

He's stepping on his cigarette, and motioning her to follow him.

Blossom thinks she's going to faint when she realises he's lead her to a motorcycle.

 _Just what kind of stereotypical high school gang drama was this?!_

He's pulling the keys out of his pocket and the ginger haired teen jumps when he sits and the engine roars to life.

He's looking at her expectantly, looking like he'd probably stab her if she didn't get on the death trap immediately.

Gulping, Blossom finds herself robotically sitting behind him, her hands firmly locked on her knees.

"Hold onto me or you're going to fall off"

"I'll be fine" her eye twitches, couldn't he see she was deathly uncomfortable?

"If you fucking fall off at some point I'm going to leave you on the ground to die"

Oh look at that, her arms were suddenly wrapped securely around his waist.

* * *

It's two forty eight in the morning when Bubbles Utonium is in an uber on the way home.

She's mildly tipsy from whatever she's had at Mitch's party and knows she's going to be hungover in the morning if she doesn't hydrate herself but all she has is her cola bottle that had been contaminated with vodka _(CoughThankyouRobinCoughCough)_

She's also thanking every deity up there for man's advancement in technology and being able to turn heating on in vehicles.

"Had a good night?" her driver asks, a round Middle Eastern man with kind eyes driving through the area

"Yeah, it was my sister's boyfriend's birthday today—well yesterday I guess" she really wasn't in the mood to talk

He nods before frowning "Love, I know it's none of my business but, about your sister's boyfriend. Is he a good person? This is part of town is really best avoided for people as nice as yourself"

Bubbles blinks "Yeah, I've known him since kindergarten. I mean, he's not a saint but he's got a good personality. He's just…not very privileged" remembering his torn down house and supressing a wince.

Her driver nodded slowly, brown eyes showing understanding through the review mirror. "That's fine then. Would you like me to play some music?"

 _Please_ "Sure" she could feel herself relax in the backseat, pleased that the conversation was over because she swears the car was spinning and it was taking ridiculous amounts of effort to keep from slurring her sentences.

Feeling her phone vibrate in her jacket pocket, the blonde fished it out her white iPhone, feeling the urge to roll her eyes at the text on her lock screen.

 **Buttercup: Hey, did you and leader girl leave?**

Bubbles snorts, shaking her head in both amusement and disbelief as she unlocks her phone and type in a reply

 **Bubbles: You're only NOW realising we left? Nice.**

 **Buttercup: Yeah, sorry. Some of us were busy**

 **Bubbles: busy sucking Mitch's dick?**

 **Buttercup: WOWOWOWOW. Here I am, worried about my two beloved sisters, wondering if they have reached home safe but clearly you're both fine**

 **Bubbles: LOL I'm just teasing. I left a while ago with some friends to get some food, there was pretty much nothing left but alcohol when we were there. Blossom stayed for a while longer, don't know why.**

 **Buttercup: Well she's not here now tf**

 **Bubbles: I think Dexter's dropped her home**

 **Buttercup: Safe. I'm staying over at Mitch's for the night so don't wait up for me**

 **Bubbles: yeah. Because we really didn't see that coming at all LMAO. Use protection.**

 **Buttercup: stfu**

She begins to grab her purse from besides her and unzips it to place her phone inside before almost screaming to the high heavens when the entire car stops, and she's pulled forward by the force of gravity, her seatbelt being her saving grace.

"Wha-?!"

The driver curses loudly, and Bubbles gawks, adjusting her vision to what was happening behind the windscreen.

She's met with absolute and utter chaos, seeing teenagers with leather jackets roaming around and holding up the road on their motorcycles

"What the hell?"

He honks the horn a few times but they all seem to either ignore their car or flip him off

Her driver groans "I'll be right back" and Bubbles is left flabbergasted as the short man undoes his seatbelt and goes to talk (yell) at the teenagers.

She winces at the cold air that manages to attack her in the short moments the car door is opened before its slammed shut again and she's able to breathe.

Ugh, she was getting too sober for this nonsense

 _Actually maybe she was sober_

That was a horrid thought, so Bubbles took out her corrupted soda bottle and took a swig. She scrunched up her face before relaxing at how warm it made her when it went down her throat.

Looking back out of the windshield, her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates at her driver.

The short middle aged man was yelling at the group of (what where they? Teenagers? Young adults? She really hoped it was one or the other because she didn't know what she'd do if she saw someone the age of her grandmother wearing leather that tight).

Finally, one of them seems to pull his helmet off and literally from this distance all she can make out is that he's blond and that he's got some bullshit mask covering the lower portion of his face.

Bubbles leans in forward in her seat, noticing how her driver seemed to be calming down drastically as the blond guy began talking to him.

Sighing, she's ready to relax back into her seat and put in her earphones. All she wanted were her fluffy blankets and pillows at this point, feeling envious of Blossom who was probably already home and asleep.

Her blue eyes are feeling ridiculously heavy and just when she feels like she's about to doze off the sound of gun shots have her lurching forward with eyes the size of dinner plates.

Whipping her head back to see just what the hell is going on her hands fly up to her mouth in shock at the slumped body of her uber driver.

No

 _Nononono_

She jumps at the sound of two more at his corpse, and tears are flooding her vision as she watches him fall—fucking fall face down into the concrete floor

She's fucking stunned and her hands are shaking as she's fumbling around trying to find her IPhone— _god where the hell is it?!_

Bubbles feels like she's going to scream because nearly ten minutes ago she was talking to some pure middle aged man who probably had kids about safety and now he was probably dead in the worst part of Townsville.

She can't even fucking see straight as she's wiping her tears—god she was always so damn emotional

In fact, she's so caught up with her emotions over the fact that some man just died because he was driving her home that she doesn't even seem to realise the blond casually bending down to the corpse and fishing out the car keys.

She doesn't see the way recognition flashes through his orbs

She's too busy trying to find her damn IPhone that she doesn't even realise the dark blue eyes that were locked onto her as he casually stepped over the body and walked towards her car

The sound of the car door opening brings her back to reality as Bubbles' head snaps up in alarm.

 _Holyshitholyshitholyshit_

Her hands are reaching for the car doors but he's locked them from sitting in the driver's seat. Amusement in his electric blue eyes as he turned towards her.

"Hey, cutie" he grinned widely, and despite the mask that was covering his nose and mouth she could see it in his eyes that he was having the fucking time of his life.

Bubbles' first rational thought is to smack him with her purse.

 _Holyshitholyshitholyshit_

"You just killed my uber driver!" she screeches, angry tears blurring her vision and running down her cheeks.

The guy— _whoever the hell he is_ , is not impressed, ripping the entire thing away from her grasp and throwing it towards the passenger's seat before crawling in between the seats and undoing her seatbelt way too swiftly for her liking.

She's screaming and trying to bash his skull in with her soda bottle before he's grabbing her by the ankles, pulling them onto the leather seats before yanking them so that she's lying down completely on her back in the backseat and with one of his knees in between her legs and the other wedged between her leg and the back of the car seat.

 _HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHIT_

Her coke bottle has been thrown god knows where in the vehicle and she's still screeching when she realises her hands are in fact not in her control and somehow have ended up above her head.

She's panting like crazy and the other figure just snorts "Now, are we going to behave like rational people and not act like a fucking sea lion has just jumped into your bedroom window?"

Bubbles' jaw had dropped, her head was already pounding and he blinks for a moment, bending down close— _too fucking close_

Her heart feels like it's going to burst and explode but he pulls away, laughing— _he was fucking laughing at her!_

"Holy shit Bubbles Utonium, have you been drinking!?" genuine surprise and mirth in his eyes.

Bubbles wants to smack him with her purse again because—

"How do you know my name?!" she's panicking now, ready to burst into tears at the sheer stress of the situation. He's acting as if he _knows_ her and its freaking her out

And he has the audacity to look offended at her question, before realisation flashes in his blue orbs and he's grinning again

"Oh, C'mon. You don't recognise the guy who you forced to volunteer with in Townsville's animal shelter? You freaking begged me for days" he rolled his eyes

"Or how about how you came to almost all of my guitar practises back in middle school, you know, the ones where you would sometimes skip cheerleading practise to see- I've gotten way better at playing that by the way"

By now, Bubbles had stopped struggling entirely, eyes widening even more than before as memories flooded her vision

No way

No fucking way

" _He didn't show up today either" She's tugging at her pigtails in distress_

 _Blossom looked at the blonde with an eyebrow raised as she brushed her long red locks by the vanity in her room_

" _So? He's probably sick"_

 _Bubbles scrunched up her face in annoyance "It's Boomer, he would tell me if he's sick"_

" _What are you, his girlfriend? His phone's probably dead"_

 _The blonde was really fighting the urge to throw one of Blossom's science text books that were occupying the shelf she was next to against her sister's head._

" _Buttercup would understand" she muttered, throwing a glare towards her sister, leaving the redhead stunned, before storming out of Blossom's pink bedroom._

 _The sound of her storming down the stairs and out of the house, ignoring the Professor's shouts left Blossom clutching onto her hairbrush so tightly that the wood cracked._

His grip on her wrists have loosened enough for her to slowly bring her hands up to his face, gently prying his mask off, and letting it hang limply around his neck, leaving the bottom half of his face exposed and confirming her suspicions

"Boomer" the name slips out of her lips so quiet—so fucking quiet but he's beaming down at her all the same.

 _No fucking way_

It was Boomer Jojo

Boomer Jojo who left with his brothers six years ago

BOOMER FUCKING JOJO WHO LEFT HER FIVE YEARS AGO—

"Hey, Bubbles" he says, his rough voice suddenly soft and stopping all of her jumbled thoughts in an instant.

And in that moment, Bubbles thinks that she's probably going to die

* * *

Blossom has no idea on how to deal with her current situation

Just what was she supposed to do when they got to her house?!

Was she supposed to invite the guy in? Ask him if he wanted to study with her like back in middle school? Hold hands and Sing Cumbia?

"Where do you live?" he asks, completely disrupting her thought process with a voice incredibly rough as he yells at her due to the harsh wind

She blinks, realising that they're no longer in the rough district and are now driving through Townsville central.

The red head teen feels the tension leave her muscles upon _finally_ being somewhere she recognises and unconsciously buries her face into his back. Exhaustion catching up to her.

If Brick minded he didn't voice any objections

Blossom didn't even need to look up to voice her directions, she knew this part of Townsville like the back of her hand, even while drifting in and out of consciousness.

She only has to tell him once before he's memorised her route entirely. Blossom's barely aware of where they are but every time she opens her eyes they're three streets closer to home.

"We're here"

Suddenly, she's being shaken awake and Blossom's rubbing the sleep out of her eyes

She didn't even realise she'd closed them in the first place.

With (surprisingly) great reluctance Blossom detaches herself from Brick's waist and clumsily stumbles off of the motorcycle.

When Brick climbs off it he makes it look unbelievably graceful and Blossom almost scoffs. She's entirely unsure on where to lead the situation.

Her eyes are brought to the leather jacket he was occupying and she's suddenly reminded that holy shit he was dangerous

" _So leader girl, you're finally accepting the fact that our favourite trio of morons are missing?" Buttercup snapped, green eyes blazing_

" _Buttercup—"_

" _No! Don't you fucking 'Buttercup' me! Bubbles and I have been telling you for weeks, literally almost a month that something was up with them and you didn't listen!"_

 _She wisely chose to shut her mouth_

" _Nothing matters to you unless it's Brick who goes missing huh?! Just because you have a fucking crush on the bastard!" the raven haired teen is seething, breathing heavily and standing in front of Bubbles_

" _That's not—"_

" _It is!" Bubbles screams, stomping her foot in outrage, suddenly reversing the roles and pulling Buttercup to the side to step forward_

" _Buttercup told you Butch was coming to school with bruises and was lashing out more and you said it was 'normal'! I come crying to you about Boomer being distant and fucking dropping off of the face of the earth and you didn't care!"_

 _Blossom was speechless, her blonde sister was gripping onto the front of her blouse with tears streaming down her face_

" _Why don't you care?!"_

Blossom's breath gets caught in her throat, he was wearing the same jacket as Butch, with the same stupid emblem.

She wanted to cry

He always did have a bad temper. But never in a million years would have Blossom Utonium considered her childhood friend to be fucking insane enough to join a gang

She needed to shoo him away immediately, call the cops—anything

"Would you like to come inside for some tea or something?" her treacherous mouth says instead, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she did so.

Brick stares at her before snorting and shaking his head, rolling his helmet around between both hands

"You always were too nice for your own good, Utonium"

Blossom takes it as a compliment

* * *

She's actually made the guy some tea

The entire situation was bizarre and honestly, all Blossom wanted to do was sleep and cuddle her boyfriend—who happened to be all the way in Timbuktu to meet up with all these other scientists for god knows what.

They're both on the couch—she's on the couch with this guy she hadn't seen since she was twelve _(and had the biggest freaking crush on the guy ever)_

 _Holy shit this is the most awkward reunion in the entire universe_

If Brick seemed uncomfortable, he sure as hell wasn't showing it.

From the corner of her eye she could see him taking sips out of his mug and taking in the living room, his entire posture entirely relaxed as if he freaking owned the place while she was there sitting as rigid as a plank of wood.

HOW on earth, was she even supposed to start the conversation?!

This was bullshit

If anything, BRICK'S supposed to be the one to initiate the conversation, for showing up out of the blue after almost a decade— _he fucking left for almost a decade_

Her entire body tenses up at the thought and she's almost crying when her mind decides to whip out memories she hadn't thought of in years

 _She remembers grabbing his hat and running away screaming like a banshee as kids while he'd throw a tantrum while chasing her for it_

 _She remembers lunch times where he would sneak in food for her in the very back of the library because he knew that's where she'd be_

 _She remembers when he began to lash out more often by their final year of middle school, remembers him using a stolen lighter to burn her favourite red bow after a particularly bad fight_

 _She remembers confusion and hurt because what the hell?! He fucking dropped off of the face of the earth out of no where!_

When she looks at Brick acting like everything is normal she feels like she needs to scream and pounce onto him so that she can gouge his eyes out

 _Howdarehehowdarehehowdarehe_

HOW FUCKING DARE HE

"Why"

Brick raises an eyebrow "why what—"

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU LEAVE ASSHOLE?!"

Blossom realises that her complete 180 degrees turn in attitude is what leaves him completely off guard as he stares at her with his eyebrows raised up to his hairline in surprise at her outburst.

It's quiet for another moment or two—an hour in Blossom's opinion before Brick responds

"I think you know why we left" he says levelly instead, maintaining eye contact

She pales and they're sitting there in tense silence for another eternity before she finally decides that her pride wouldn't be completely shattered into oblivion if she finally opened her mouth and said what she had been bottling up for years

Blossom breathes in heavily through her nose, her mind set

 _I missed you—_ "Did you know that there is literally enough DNA in an average person's body to stretch from the sun to Pluto and back like seventeen times?"

WAIT NO.

WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM?!

Brick stares at her like she's just snorted cocaine in front of him and she can't even fault him for it. She can feel the heat transfer up her neck and her ears are burning—freaking burning because what the fuck

She'd thought of this conversation for years, made several scenarios in her mind, and THIS is the nonsense that her brain decides to say?!

Brick's entire composure finally crumbles and he's lurched forward, cackling—the guy was cackling at her!

There was a gang member pissing himself from laughing on her living room sofa

"Blossom, what the fuck?" he snorts, trying to regain his self-control

Her cheeks are burning from embarrassment "What? It's a fact!"

There really was no redeeming herself, she doesn't know why she's trying. She should just steal Brick's gun (because there was no doubt in her mind that he owned one, if not more) and pull the trigger while aiming it at her temples.

"What even—"

"SHUT UP"

"Where the fuck did—"

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" She smacks him with one of the couch cushions repeatedly,

He's still laughing, only this time she's joining him

* * *

 _(Oh no, I've already come too far_

 _Suddenly, none of this is a game anymore._

 _I wanna throw my all_

 _Into your world)_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm screaming over the reviews and stuff. Bless ya'll**

 **There are somewhat mature scenes, please don't read if you're like twelve lol.**

 **Also, please don't always expect these long ass 6k+ chapters. I'm literally the worst at updating and being consistent so don't be surprised if my chapters cut down to around 3k**

 _(Rather than fear,_

 _My attraction to you is bigger._

 _I guess that I'm playing with fire)_

* * *

Its ten thirty nine in the on a Saturday when Buttercup Utonium wakes up.

Her head is throbbing like crazy and the hangover she has was making her want to bang her skull against the wall.

She's rolling around on the mattress, trying to retain some form of warmth and can't fucking fathom why she's freezing like she's in the arctic—oh

Green eyes narrow at the sight of her boyfriend's back since he was happily hogging the duvet all to himself.

Yeah, no

Surprise motherfucker

Grabbing onto a corner of the duvet, the raven haired teen rips the covers away from Mitch and happily bundles herself within them.

"Wha—Buttercup?!" he groans, surprised by the sudden cold and rubs the sleep out of his eyes to glare beadily at her. Half asleep, the brunet reaches out in an attempt to pull them back but Buttercup just rolls away and becomes a human burrito.

Mitch gives her a look of exasperation, to which she maturely responds with by sticking her tongue out.

"Babe, seriously" he groans "I'm like fucking commando up in this bitch. The heating doesn't work, c'mon" he rolls over towards her, trying to pry the covers off.

Buttercup snorts

"Nah, I don't think so"

"Buttercup! Give me the fucking covers, or so help me-"

She grins, lime eyes lighting up dangerously

"Make me"

Mitch raises an eyebrow, quickly catching on and grinning immediately at the implications.

* * *

It's not until an hour later when Buttercup's throwing on one of Mitch's t-shirts from a chair while he goes to check downstairs in case there were any leftover party guests from the night before passed out in his house.

She's gone ahead and brushed her teeth and washed her face, patting it dry with a towel as she makes her way back in her room and finally notices her phone vibrating on the bedside table.

Buttercup picks up her phone and stares blankly at the unknown number on her lock screen

"Hello?"

"Morning Buttercup" she almost winces at the sound of Blossom's voice on the other end

Fixing the bed and pressing the green button to accept the call, she decides she might as well face the music "Morning leader girl. Listen, I know I should've probably told you that I would be staying the night at Mitch's place but—"

"Buttercup I already knew you'd be staying over there, that's like basic maths at this point" Blossom interrupts from the other end of the line and the raven haired teenager is left raising both of her eyebrows in surprise

"Alright, so what's up?"

"Did Bubbles say she was going to stay over at a friend's house? She's not home"

Buttercup pauses mid fixing the pillows "Uh, no. She said she was going to get an uber home when I last saw her. I was texting her last night—wait Bubbles didn't come home?"

She's met with silence on the other line

"Blossom what the fuck?! Are you sure she's not with her friend's or something?"

"I don't freaking know! I passed out on the living room couch!"

Buttercup finds her patience wearing "You didn't check to see if our baby sister was home this entire time?! It's like almost twelve!"

"Don't yell at me! I just told you I passed out on the freaking sofa! I didn't even change or take my makeup off"

"She's probably with Mike" Blossom says suddenly, "He's always looking after her"

Buttercup's gawking as she puts the phone on speaker and begins texting as many people she saw with her sister last as she can.

Buttercup freezes at the sudden response from the brunet on her imessage.

"…Mike says the last time he saw her, she was getting inside of an uber"

It's completely silent before Blossom finally finds her words,

"I'm on my way."

* * *

When Blossom first wakes up, her shoes are still on and her legs are dangling off the edge of her living room couch and she's feeling disgusting, her eyes were practically glued shut.

Rubbing her face, she quickly comes to a conclusion when she's seeing mascara crumbs on her hand

She's fucking slept in her makeup like an absolute idiot—if Bubbles could see her now, her blonde sister would be screeching and throwing her entire skincare collection into her arms.

Her eyes glanced up towards the clock above the television 7:50 am

Groaning, she rolls over into her side and snuggles further into her boyfriend's chest. Pink eyes already beginning to shut back close.

It was still too early to deal with the world—she didn't care if she was a 'morning' person, she was exhausted.

* * *

When Blossom Utonium opens her eyes for the second time that morning, she realises that her legs were now on the couch and completely intertwined with her boyfriend's.

Much better

She's pleasantly surprised with how comfortable her head is, tucked in under his chin. Dexter was usually horrible with affection, even when they were alone.

It was probably because he was introverted

Or because engineering would most likely give him a bigger boner than she ever could

She almost snorts at the thought and her eyes are going back up towards her living room clock

9:57 Am

Blossom closes her eyes, content. She would get up at ten. She was way too comfortable and pleased and there were no blankets—Dexter was literally her only source of warmth in this cold ass February morning.

She brings her arms up to change position, the feeling of leather against her skin surprisingly comforting despite the slight restriction it gave her—

Wait.

What leather?

Dexter didn't wear leather.

She didn't own anything leather that wasn't a purse.

Her couch wasn't leather.

Panicking, pink eyes snap open and she's greeted with a fucking broad chest that cannot possibly be her boyfriends and—

Oh

Shaking, her eyes widen to the size of truck tires as memories flood back into her brain from wherever the hell they had been—had they been in Paris, what the fuck?!

Blossom screams and shoves him away, causing blood red eyes to open in alarm and let her go. She lets out a startled yelp and she's fallen off of the couch and banged her arm against the coffee table on her trip to the floor.

Both red heads are left stunned as they stare at each other

Brick's fucking speechless and Blossom looks ready to run upstairs to cry in her bed

"…You're a riot, Utonium" he deadpans before groaning and cracking neck and shoulders

Blossom's cheeks heat up indignantly as she begins to rub her sore arm "Why the hell were you molesting me?!"

His entire face twists into a scowl "Don't fucking act all high and mighty when you were the one who came to me"

She's about to retort but she can distantly remember leaning her head against his shoulder murmuring about their days as kids and probably (definitely) falling asleep on him.

"W-Well you should have woken me up!"

Brick stared at her as if he was in the office, looking as if she had just asked him to spend the day watching paint dry with him

Deciding it was too fucking early too deal with Blossom's absurdity, he rolls over so that his back is facing her and starts going back to sleep.

Blossom's jaw drops to the floor as she contemplates throwing one of her textbooks on the coffee table she had so gracefully bumped into, at his head but decides against it

Books were far too precious to be wasted on a gang member like Brick Jojo of all people—

Her heart stops

Brick Jojo was in her house

She can't even comprehend it. four or five years ago she could see a red head with a bad temper discussing English literature with her while her twelve year old self tried not to swoon and now—

And now he joined one of Townsville's biggest gangs—not that there were many to begin with but _what the fuck kind of plot twist was this?!_

Brick Jojo was sleeping on her couch—as if he didn't just show up bang out of nowhere and back into her life again.

When she absentmindedly goes to rub her elbow again, she's finally realising that there's a jacket hanging off of her shoulders—barely hanging on (her comical fall from grace was probably why)

Her cheeks heat up and her head whips around to face his back and see his body gently rise and fall with his breathing.

 _No way, Did he—?!_

Blossom's pretty sure that her brain has short circuited when she suddenly feels overtaken by a burst of affection.

Affection that she thought was long gone when it came to Brick Jojo

As quiet as possible, Blossom starts finally rising from her position on the carpeted floor. Adjusting the stupid gang jacket and throwing her arms into the arm holes provided before reaching up and pulling her long locks out from between her shirt and the leather.

She's making her way upstairs towards the bathroom, more than ready to completely cleanse her face from last night's makeup and get on with her morning routine, but stops when her hand is mid-way reaching for the door knob.

There's a sudden gnawing in her chest—guilt?

Whatever the hell it was, it's making her do a complete U-turn and she makes her way to her bedroom instead, yanking open her closet for spare blankets and then making her way back downstairs to dump the entire thing on his head and hopefully choke him for leaving her for so long—

Okay, no

That's just what she'd like to do

She instead unfolds the fabric, and flaps it about so that the entire thing extends to her feet when she holds it high above her head.

It's not like she can carry the guy towards her bed, what was she? Superhuman?

She almost snorted at the illogicality of the thought.

Blossom's really praying to every deity up there in the world that Brick is a heavy sleeper when she goes to cover his body with the fabric—her pride was already damaged enough around the guy and she'd only been with him for less than a day.

Surprisingly enough, he doesn't stir and remains asleep.

Blossom furrows her brows, _well that's really fucking inconvenient for a gang member to be a light sleeper_

Honestly, what if he was getting robbed?

Shaking her head at the absurdity, she makes her way back to her original route upstairs and towards the bathroom.

Heaven knows what Bubbles would do if she were to awake and see her in this state.

Blossom catches herself in the hallway mirror, still wearing the jacket and can feel the corners of her mouth pull upwards a little before she's pulling off the jacket and putting it onto her bed in her room.

It's when she's going to take a shower does Blossom realise she's still wearing her shoes and she finds herself staring at her own reflection in the mirror looking like she wanted to end her life right then and there.

She doesn't though, and finishes getting ready.

Exiting the bathroom with a now very much clean face and minty fresh breath, the ginger haired teen makes her way towards her bedroom, clutching her pink towel closely to her chest as she walks down the hallway.

Humming, her gingerly grabs her door handle and pushes her door open—

Only to scream in bloody murder at the sight of Brick Jojo casually checking out the family photos along the top of the staircase

Her screeching catches his attention instantly (honestly, he'd have to be deaf to not hear her) and now they're just staring at each other awkwardly

 _Holyshitholyshitholyshit_

Brick has the audacity to slowly look her up head to toe and he smirks— SMIRKS at her and Blossom just scrambles into her bedroom and slams the door shut. Locking it and not caring if she wakes anybody in the house up.

Not Bubbles, not Buttercup (even though Blossom would bet all of her life savings that her raven haired sister was still at Mitch's house), not even if she waked up the entire neighbourhood itself!

She's running to her bed and jumping onto the thing, face down into the pillows and crying into them in frustration and embarrassment.

Her childhood crush had just seen her in nothing but a towel on

Nononono

She was going to die

…Okay no. she was going to get ready and walk outside with her head held high with as much dignity as she could muster.

Which wasn't really a lot at this point if she were to be completely honest with herself

After coming to terms with the fact that Brick was probably never going to let that little episode go, Blossom reluctantly gets off of her bed and lets her towel drop.

She's still redder than any sort of tomato she's ever seen in her lifetime while she's throwing her undergarments on and looking through her closet for a suitable enough outfit to wear.

She's pulling out a cute faux leather mini skirt before looking out the window and pulling a face.

Yeah, no

Neatly putting the skirt back into her closet, Blossom settles for some dark skinny jeans and pulls them on. Continuing her search in her closet for a sweater or sweatshirt—or hoodie even

Instead she's finding cute shirts and blouses and absolutely nothing she wants

Blossom pauses and she finds herself slowly looking back at the leather jacket on her bed and frowns.

 _She looked so cute in the jacket_ —

Her hands are flying back towards her hangers and after a few moments of finding absolutely nothing Blossom groans and decides she could always steal whatever her sisters had.

It wouldn't be the first time

Her lips are pulled into a tight line because now- she realises that she can't just waltz out of her room with Brick chilling in her upstairs hallway in just a bra and jeans—

She was NOT going through that humiliation again

Blossom nervously looks back towards the door and presses her ear against the wood.

 _She couldn't really hear him_

Maybe he went back downstairs?

Groaning in sheer frustration, the teen stormed back towards her bed and threw on the ( _his_ ) jacket, making sure to zip it all the way up _thank you_ , before swinging the door open.

She's met with an empty corridor and she lights up in relief before heading down towards Buttercup's room because honestly, where else would you go when you needed a good edgy hoodie?

Although, maybe edgy wasn't really the look she was going for she thought drily, and knocked on the door to Bubbles's room instead.

"Hey, Bubbles? Can I borrow some clothes?"

Blossom rolls her eyes when she's met with silence. It's like what, eleven o'clock and her sister was still asleep?

Why was she the only morning person out of her siblings?

Now, twisting the door handle and pushing open the door the ginger haired teen strolls in, annoyance on her facial features as she unzips her (his) jacket and heads for the closet and pulls out a white hoodie by the hanger

"Seriously Bubbles? It's like almost eleven thirty—"

Spinning around, Blossom freezes at the sight of her sister's empty bed

Blossom can feel her eyebrows fly towards her hairline as she looks around in the empty bedroom.

What the hell

"Bubbles?" she calls out, heading for the bathroom with the hoodie in hand and goes to open the door.

Her eyebrows furrow and suddenly, she's running down the stairs

"Bubbles!"

"She's not here" a voice calls out from behind and Blossom whips around to see blood red eyes and a freckled face taking a bite out of a slice of toast.

He was scrolling through his phone and Blossom's jaw almost dropped at the sight

What the hell—she was going to make him breakfast!

Wait, no

"What do you mean she's not here?" Blossom asks, confusion evident on her features and Brick just shrugs, looking about as interested as a five year old staring at an algebraic equation

"How the fuck would I know? She's not here" he says bluntly without even looking at her and Blossom's jaw drops as she goes to find her phone

"Ugh—where's my phone?!" she's picking up bits of paper on the coffee table, before checking the sofa

It's quiet for a few moments, besides the rustling

"Inside pocket" he suddenly pipes up and Blossom looks up at the other teen in confusion

"Excuse me?"

Blossom really can't find it in her to try to comprehend just _why_ this boy looks so damn amused as he watched her with his chin resting in the palm of his hand.

"My jacket. It's in the inside pocket of my jacket"

Her hands are flying to the pocket immediately and she's sighing in relief as she pulls out her rose gold iPhone.

Her eye twitches at the battery percentage "It's on like one percent—god, where's the charger?!"

"What do you want to do?"

"Call my sister!"

Brick wordlessly offers her his unlocked phone and Blossom's speed walking towards him immediately, quietly thanking him and entering her sister's phone number through her contacts.

When she's sent to voice mail the fourth time while calling Bubbles's phone is when Brick decides to offer his wisdom

"Why don't you try the other one— Buttercup?" he asks slowly, raising an eyebrow in mild annoyance.

Blossom can't even find it within her to voice any sort of comebacks because _, uh yeah why wasn't she trying to call Buttercup?_

She finds Buttercup's number in her phone contacts and dials it onto Brick's black IPhone

She picks up after eight rings and breaks Blossom's heart.

* * *

 _Saturday 3:33 am_

The sound of a horn blaring is what causes Bubbles to finally pull her hands away from his face like she's been burnt.

Boomer looks towards the rear windshield and doesn't bother to hide his annoyance before pulling away from the blonde and for a moment, Bubbles is scared he'll try and kill whoever is behind them too, but Boomer just moves towards the driver's seat and pulls the car keys out.

They were still in the middle of the road and Bubbles finds her hands flying towards her cheeks, feeling the ridiculous amount of warmth there and realises she's been blushing.

She's suddenly very relieved her foundation is full coverage and she sits up immediately when the engine roars to life and they're moving.

Bubbles smooths out her skirt and tries to comprehend just what kind of bogus situation she had managed to land herself in.

Her hands are shaking—fucking shaking because how?!

How the hell could he just appear in front of her face after seven years and flip her world upside down?!

Did he have no manners?

When she brings her gaze back up towards him she's paling at the sight of leather and Bubbles can feel the puzzle pieces clicking together in her mind

He was in a gang—but not just any gang

She can see the smaller version of the insignia on his sleeve and all she can feel is confusion (almost fear) envelop her.

Five years.

She wants to burst into tears but she's just _sososo_ tired

 _Where have you been "_ Where are we going?" she asks instead

 _Please just take me home_

"Around" he responds and Bubbles gulps, choosing to look out the window

 _Talk to me_

The drive is silent and the blonde finds herself fumbling with the ends of her skirt. She thinks to herself that walking probably would have been safer than this.

Suddenly, a water bottle is handed to her when they're at a red light and Bubbles looks up in surprise

"You don't want it?"

She hesitantly reaches out and takes it from his hand. She fucking swears she can feel electricity when their fingertips brush against each other.

Bubbles definitely wasn't drunk enough for any of this

She wanted answers but she was just—she was so full of emotion right now that she felt like she was going to burst.

She wanted to be numb—she could still feel so fucking much

Maybe he drugged the water?

Uncapping the bottle and taking a few gulps of water after smelling it and deeming it as safe (maybe she could pretend it was alcoholic), to relieve her throat Bubbles finds herself exhaling in relief before putting the cap back on and reaching forward to place it in the passenger seat in front.

She hates how she's letting him drive her wherever he wants

She wants to slap him, yell, and scream at him

It's been seven motherfucking years and Bubbles Utonium is _still_ head over heels for the guy

This was bullshit

He was a completely different person, the jacket he was wearing proved it— _so why_

She's burying her face into her hands, distraught

Nononono

 _She remembers the softest smiles of a thirteen year old boy buying her vanilla ice cream._

Suddenly, her breathing is erratic and she fucking needs something to calm her down—needed to reduce her anxiety levels before she broke. Her hands were reaching down for her cola bottle

She didn't care if it was a depressant, she needed to breathe

With shaky hands, Bubbles twists the cap off and takes down double the amount of her spiked drink than the water she had drunk—completely missing the navy blue eyes staring at her actions through the rear view mirror

It still burns like awful when it slides down her throat, but she's still somewhat tipsy (mostly sober) and takes a moment to take in just what's happening.

Her head is fucking killing her and suddenly everything is a haze

* * *

 _She remembers a red haired boy with the reddest eyes she's ever seen joining her work bench one September_

 _She had to coax Brick for weeks when he first joined her art class to see his sketch book and even then he would start to get irritated if she just flipped through it without versing her opinion._

" _Hey Brick? Can I see your work?" Robin asked, tucking a strand of chestnut hair behind her ear_

 _He scowled, flipping his book shut in annoyance "No"_

 _Robin pouted, attempting to pull her own sketchbook out "You can see mine if you want" she offers,_

" _I don't want too. Can you not take a hint? Fuck off" he deadpanned, ignoring the look of hurt that flashed through her blue eyes before she headed back towards her work bench_

 _After getting rid of the disturbance, the red head opened his pencil case and pulled out a 3B pencil and reopened his book to continue his work_

" _Wow Brick, aren't you a bucket full of sunshine" Bubbles appeared, placing her bag down onto the table and pulling out her equipment, not even trying to mask the disapproval in her tone_

" _Oh yeah, I'm all about the sunshine and rainbows" he spoke, not taking his eyes off of his work_

" _I think you should go apologise, she looked really upset" she sat down beside him and pulled out her own work_

" _And I think you should go suck a dick"_

 _Bubbles threw her pencil down and turned towards him, grabbing him by his cheeks and abruptly turning him into the direction of the distressed girl_

" _She looks like she's about to cry, Brick"_

 _Begrudgingly, Brick realised that yes. The girl looked like a god damn wounded animal when he saw the lack of enthusiasm in the brunette while she was conversing with her peers_

" _Brick, she just wanted to see your work"_

 _Bubbles was actually the worst person ever for becoming his moral compass._

 _He groaned and the sound of his stool screeching against the floor could be heard as he stormed up towards Robin to apologise._

 _Bubbles hummed happily, pulling his sketchbook towards her to examine his work. When he came back, red orbs glared daggers into her as he waited patiently for his book back_

" _This is so good!" she beams, and taps on one of the pages with her finger "Was this inspired by Oscar Niemeyer?"_

 _Even back as kids he was still arrogant as hell but respected her opinion as a fellow art student. He nodded towards her, and there was a small tug upwards in his lips at her_

" _Yeah, I was reading 'The stranger' you know Albert Camus?"_

 _Bubbles stared at him blankly and he rolled his eyes "It's a literature book that was in the library, anyway one of Oscar Niemeyer's book's fell out. It was in the completely wrong section, mind you"_

" _Oh! 'The curves of time'?"_

" _You've read it?" he asked, genuinely doubtful_

" _No, I just know about his work" she shrugged and handed him back his sketchbook_

" _Typical" Brick rolled his eyes "I read the book and found out about his architecture"_

 _Bubbles hummed, a smile on her face "You recommend it?"_

" _I recommend you read something" he said bluntly and the blonde rolled her eyes_

" _Fine, I'll read not only the book about the architect, but I'll read the literature too"_

 _Brick continued to look at her with doubt and she rolled her eyes "Oh please, I like it read"_

" _Bubbles, you like to read books like twilight"_

" _I stopped reading that after I found out Bella doesn't get with Jacob"_

 _He gave her a look that screamed 'I really couldn't care less' and Bubbles snorted_

 _The pair remained in a comfortable silence for the remainder of the lesson. Bubbles occasionally borrowing his pencils seeing as his set was so much nicer than her own._

 _He didn't smack her away like he did the first time and she grinned_

* * *

Its twenty more minutes of driving in silence before the car slows to a stop on a road she's really unfamiliar with and Bubbles is just numb.

The area is so much cleaner and upper class that Bubbles doesn't really know how to react

Suddenly, her door is opened and she's greeted with cold air and her goose bumps automatically rise on her arms and legs but she doesn't care

"You killed my uber driver" she says suddenly, turning around to face him properly for the first time this entire night, her brain working overdrive

"Yeah, I did" he confirms, unfazed and Bubbles feels her insides churn

"Why?" her eyes almost snap shut, and she's doing her best to sit up straight and appear relatively awake

Boomer just looks at her with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. The whole thing has Bubbles wondering if he's comprehending that normal people do not fucking pull this shit

"Does it really matter?"

Her hand reaches out and slaps him across the face before she's even realised what she's doing.

Her aim is completely horrible but she still manages to land a hit while her ocean blue eyes are brimming with tears. She almost falls forward with the force but she's managed to steady herself.

She can't—she really can't put together how this man and the kid she knew in middle are the same person

Boomer, for his part is holding onto the side of his face that began to turn red and Bubbles is mortified

"O-Of course it matters! He didn't do anything to you and you just, just—"she can't even finish her sentence, it's all slurred and Bubbles promptly bursts into more tears

Wordlessly, Boomer pulls her forward so that her legs hang out of the car door and she's sitting on the very edge, he moves forward and cups her face, wiping away stray tears with his thumbs

 _Please don't do this_

Her heart is _still_ skipping beats for this man and she's both horrified and disgusted by the fact

She doesn't even know how to feel when she's suddenly being picked up, chest to chest and her legs automatically wrap around his waist as he uncaringly kicks the car door shut

 _Disgustingdisgustingdisgusting_

Everything is hazy and she's scared she's going to pass out

Bubbles feels her arms wrap around his shoulders and her hands bunch up the leather in distress

"Why did you leave?"

 _She remembers waiting at the school dance all alone in the cutest baby blue dress she bought because shit, wasn't blue their favourite colour?_

 _She remembers dancing with Buttercup and Blossom and just about everyone except for him even though they were supposed to be each other's dates._

 _She remembers pedalling down street after street with Buttercup on their bicycles and knocking (banging in Buttercup's case) on the Jojo residence's door before standing on their tip toes to look through the windows and finding the house empty._

 _No furniture, no people, nothing_

Bubbles is going in and out of consciousness, and every time she closes her eyes she can see the six of them at a lunch table back in Townsville middle school. Through her tears she couldn't make out where they even were going anymore.

 _Fuck it_

 _She remembers Blossom giving last minute math lessons in the back of the library, with Butch eagerly trying to write down answers on his paper and the back of his hand. She remembers Boomer rolling his eyes at his brother and folding up paper aeroplanes with Buttercup to see whose flies the furthest across the table. Brick would be routinely showing her his architecture designs from art class and she would eagerly be expressing her admiration along with her own ideas and design imputes._

Every time Bubbles closes her eyes, a new memory appears and leaves her wanting to remember more.

She forgets the idea of resisting

* * *

 _She can still see Butch pounding on her front door on various occasions whenever things got ugly between him and Buttercup. Which was hilarious seeing that the very person he was angry at lived under the same roof as her. She smiles lightly at the thought of the first time he had come to actively see her and a bewildered Blossom answering the door_

" _Butch? Buttercup's not—"_

" _She's not here? Good. Fuck her" he growled looking as threatening as he could at age thirteen_

" _Language!" Blossom gasped, horrified momentarily before confusion overtook her "Wait, what do you want then?"_

 _There was a pause_

" _Is Bubbles home?"_

 _There was an even longer pause and Blossom stared at him as if he had just told her Snoop Dog was to become president_

 _Beginning to look impatient, Butch rolled his eyes "Is she here or not?"_

"… _no she's here" the red head said, looking stunned as she stepped towards the side to let him storm inside and up the stairs._

" _BUBBLES!"_

 _The blonde gawked as she looked upwards from her bed, hand frozen in mid-air with the nail polish brush in her hand as a hurricane of green stormed inside_

"… _Hey, Butch" she rose an eyebrow as he turned towards her_

 _Another awkward silence_

" _Hey"_

" _So this is new"_

 _And like a dam, he erupted "Buttercup's a fucking bitch!"_

" _Wait, what hap—"_

" _She's being a fucking idiot Bubbles, what the shit is going on through her pea sized brain?!"_

 _Bubbles stared at him and rolled her eyes_

" _What'd she do?"_

" _What didn't she do?!"_

 _What was this? Some teen drama? Bubbles found herself pausing to stare into the distance like she was in the office_

" _Butch" she whined and he groaned, turning towards her with wild green eyes_

" _She totally ditched my ass today at the skate park! Who does that?!"_

 _The blonde blinked back at him, surprised "She ditched you? Are you sure?"_

" _Yes I'm bloody sure! So here's what goes down. After school yesterday she's all like 'I got a new skateboard that I'm dying to smoke you in a race with' so obviously I ain't no bitch and go 'Wanna bet?' so we plan to meet at the skate park downtown at like three today"_

 _Oh, he was finally going to give her some context. Nice—hold on a second it was five o'clock. She turns towards the raven haired teen in concern_

" _So I'm there, waiting for this stupid ass bitch for like over an hour. Like the first ten to fifteen minutes? Whatever, thirty? You're really testing my fucking patience here but shit, I've made her wait like forty minutes before so I can't really say anything- but holy shit, An hour was when I drew the fucking line Bubbles"_

 _Bubbles frowned, deciding to finish painting her finger nails while he ranted around her room_

" _And—wait no, Bubbles what are you doing? That colour looks awful on you. Give me that" he snatched the nail polish out of her hand and headed towards her vanity, still seething as he inspected her collection, leaving the blonde speechless_

" _Anyway, so as mad as I am, it's Buttercup. She's not the type of person to bail on someone without saying anything, so here I am CONCERNED. You hear that Bubbs? I'm actually CONCERNED for the bitch!" he snarled before pulling out a periwinkle blue and storming back towards her_

" _Where was she?" she goes to take the new colour from him, but to her surprise he just sits on the floor with his legs crossed and gestures for her to sit down._

 _It's only AFTER she's sat down beside him and she's grabbing onto her hand, positioning it onto his lap and unscrewing the lid with his teeth does he decide to continue his story_

" _So, I'm skating out of the park and heading down the street? You know the bakery you and Blossom love? Yeah so I'm going down that street, turning around the corner to where the little flower shop is and the ice cream parlour AND LO AND BEHOLD it's fucking Buttercup sitting inside and guess who's with her?"_

 _Bubbles actually gasped_

" _She didn't—!"_

 _His face twisted into a humourless scowl "OH BUT SHE DID! She ditched me for Mitch's crew of all people!"_

* * *

When Boomer's putting her down, her eyes snap open to the feeling of a mattress hitting her back. She vaguely realises that her jacket is gone and a sudden wave of panic washes over her.

What the hell was he—?!

She finds him sitting on the side of the bed with her feet in his lap as he begins removing her heels and then gets up to put them neatly to the side against the wall of the bedroom.

Bubbles finds her breath getting caught in her throat as she realises _holy shit this is his bedroom_ and her eyes are scanning the entire area in surprise with how spacious it was.

The blonde can almost feel her jaw dropping at the sight of the Bösendorfer piano against his window and she has to literally pry her eyes away from the thing—

WHO THE HELL KEEPS A BOSENDORFER PIANO IN THEIR BEDROOM?! THOSE THINGS COST A FORTUNE-

When she's finally able to look away and not drool at the offending object, she turns her attention towards white chrome guitar holders on the wall and finds a black Gibson sg guitar on one of the hangers, a bass on another.

She's refraining from allowing her lips to twitch upwards, somewhat pleased that he's still a total music nerd and that she's finally seeing some connection between this stranger and the boy she once was best friends with.

" _Did you eat?"_

She realises that this was basically kidnapping at this point and as much as she was in awe by his collection she was still pissed

Not only at him, but herself

She hadn't really done a thing to stop him (much to her dismay and realisation)

" _Bubbles?"_

Bubbles finds her eyes tracing around to see various posters of artists and white shelves filled with CD albums and comic books by a desk with a sketchbook and scattered music sheets.

The blonde tries not to feel disappointed when she sees absolutely no pictures of him or his brothers in his entire room—

"Bubbles" the other figure snaps and she jumps at not only the tone but when she spins around he's literally inches away from her face with his hands on either side of her and Bubbles squeaks in surprise.

"Don't fucking ignore me" he says, bluntly

 _Holyshitholyshitholyshit_ there are chills running down her spine because _what the fuck he's hot_

He doesn't seem angry with her, just exasperated

But just by looking at her expression his mood shifts into the complete opposite and she wants to scream when she sees the amusement in his dark blue orbs at her reactions.

"You were talking?" she asks, genuinely confused, looking out of it

"You never answered my question" she says, instead and Boomer's pulling away and removing his jacket

Bubbles thinks there's something terribly wrong with her to be finding a murderer attractive

"Later"

"But—"

"Later, Bubbles" his tone final

Bubbles frowns at how entirely useless he is and _Jesus Christ why is it so hard for her to pay attention?!_

"Why didn't you take me home?" she says, taking a great deal to make sure her question does not come out slurred, but she feels like the room's spinning

"Since when do I have the privilege of knowing where you live?" he smirks at her jaw dropping as he puts his leather jacket over his desk chair before sitting down onto the thing backwards and resting his arms on top of the back rest.

"Bullshit, I was in an uber Boomer. You could have easily just checked the route out on the GPS but you turned it off"

Boomer actually throws his head back and laughs a little "Damn, you caught on? I thought you'd be too drugged up to realise, actually"

Bubbles looks at the blond, offended "Excuse me?"

"Well you were drinking in the backseat Bubbles, shit" His tone is light but he's grinning dangerously, resting his chin on the chair.

Her cheeks heat up and the room spins really fast when she sits up

"Tell me cutie" he's suddenly swishing her bottle from side to side for her to see, eyes dark "Where did you get this?"

* * *

 _12:03 pm Saturday_

"What do you mean Bubbles is missing?" Mitch asks, making a face as he attempts to fry bacon and not get harmed by any of the oil spitting out at him

"I mean, she's missing! No one fucking knows where she is!" she snaps, storming around the house in a mixture of panic and anger

"Did you call Mi—"He almost drops the bacon and winces

"Mike?! Yes, he doesn't know shit!"

"What did he say?"

"That the last time he saw her she's was stepping into an uber—an uber, Mitch. Jesus fucking Christ"

Mitch nods "Well did you try contacting the company?" he frowns when he breaks an egg and it doesn't even get in the pan

Buttercup, finally exhausted of watching her boyfriend spoil their food immediately shoos him away with her hand gestures and takes over. Masterfully cracking the eggs into a bowl and seasoning it before pulling out a cheese grater.

"They don't have a freaking clue on what happened, the driver's gone missing" She snaps while grating the cheese, pissed

"Aren't they going to do anything about it?"

"They refunded the money" Buttercup snorts "Yeah, okay thanks but what about my sister?!"

Mitch looks like he's about to say something but the sound of the door knocking makes both teenagers pause and turn towards the sound of the noise.

She's dropped the spatula she was using onto the kitchen counter and speeds out of the kitchen and down the hallway to go open the front door.

Mitch yelps from the kitchen and goes to continue with where Buttercup has left off with cooking the omelette.

Buttercup swings the door open in full force, almost throwing the thing off its hinges in the process.

"Blossom, have you—" her question dies in her throat as she gawks at the stranger standing behind the doorframe, his hand mid in air from presumably knocking.

 _Why the hell does she feel like her hearts stopped?_

The two teens are stuck staring at each other awkwardly, and Buttercup furrows her eyebrows in confusion at the guy.

 _Where—where the hell has she seen him before?!_

"Uh, hey" he says lamely, looking equally as surprised to see her opening the door "Is Mitch home?"

Buttercup nods slowly, regaining her composure "Yeah, hold on"

"MITCH!"

"WHAT?!"

"UH- I'm sorry, what was your name again?" she pulls a face, and turns towards the guy. She didn't know why but there was a sudden uncomfortable gnawing in her gut

Jesus Christ what the hell

The guy in question has his face drop slightly, and she swears she can see a flash anger in his emerald eyes.

Buttercup's just staring at him with an eyebrow raised in question because HELLO?! Her sister was still missing and she didn't have all the time in the goddamn world

She's about to snap at the dumbass when there's suddenly an arm being draped around her shoulders

"Butch, hey dude I wasn't expecting you so early" Mitch says, nodding towards the guy in acknowledgement and pulling her further inside slightly

Buttercup's jaw goes slack and she snaps her head back towards the other figure so fast her neck cracks at the name and when she looks at him for the second time, it all clicks in place

Butch

Butch Jojo

BUTCH FUCKING JOJO

The guy seems to smirk slightly and she knows it's because the smug little shit had seen the way her eyes doubled in size in recognition.

Her eyes flash with anger.

"So how much do I owe you and your guys for last night?" Mitch says, scratching the back of his head and moving further in front of his seething girlfriend before she snaps her gaze towards him

"Wait what—how him for what?" she asks

"About a good hundred and fifty bucks" Butch says shrugging but his focus is all on her

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Give me a few minutes to get the cash" Mitch laughs, shaking his head "Babe? Can you watch the eggs? I've left the stove on." And goes to step back inside

"Wait—no fuck this. What the fuck is going on here!?" Buttercup snaps, pissed as she shoves her boyfriend to the side and glares up at Butch—

Wait a fucking second

Wait a motherfucking second

His jacket. Holy shit the emblem on his arm

"And you! Just what the—where the fuck have you been?!" she bared her teeth

She was pissed- no.

She was livid

He's grinning at her, actually grinning and opening his arms wide looking like he's expecting her to run into them like she's in love with the fool

"Hey Butterbutt, how's it going?"

It all went so fast. One moment she's staring at him in disbelief, the next she's sucker punching him in the face.

"OW- JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK BUTTERCUP?!" He gawks, clutching the side of his face in astonishment

She's screeching and charging into him, completely throwing his balance completely off and he's falling backwards—

And due to a complete miscalculation in her plan, Buttercup realises she's falling with him, but all she can see is red.

"YOU JOINED A GANG?! A FUCKING GANG?! YOU LEAVE FOR FIVE YEARS AND JOIN A GANG?!"

The moment their bodies make contact with the ground, her hands are around his neck and she's seething

"HOW DARE YOU, HOW FUCKING DARE YOU?!"

"Buttercup, stop! What the hell are you doing?!" Mitch screamed, eyes stricken "You're going to kill him!"

She doesn't give a flying shit about what her boyfriend's screaming about and suddenly, she's gritting her teeth and her fists are connecting with his chest

Butch yelps, throwing his arms up and pulling them away from him to grin at her "Are you fucking insane?!"

"Am—Am I insane?! You're the one who just appeared out of fucking thin air asshole! You were in town this whole fucking time and you didn't say shit?!"

"Aw babe, is that your way of telling me you missed me?"

"Fuck you, asshole!" Butch cackles as she grabs him by the collar and slams him back down into the concrete

 _The fucking asshole doesn't even care! He isn't event trying to stop her—he broke her fucking heart seven years ago and all he could do was laugh_

Mitch gawks, trying to pry his girlfriend off of the other teenager because honestly, the sight of her straddling someone else's hips were really starting to get to him—

The sound of an engine roaring causes the brunet to freeze, while Butch tried to half-heartedly shield himself from the raven haired teen's attacks.

Mitch looks ahead, his jaw suddenly agape.

The sound of a throat being cleared could be heard and suddenly, Buttercup and Butch are both looking up towards the voice

"Blossom?"

"Brick?"

"Just what" the blood eyed teenager starts off, rubbing the bridge between his eyes in attempt to calm down "Just what in the ever loving fuck is going on here?"

* * *

 _(Should I kiss him, will I diss him?_

 _I don't know but I miss him._

 _This is past addiction, this love is like crack_

 _Can you feel my heart go black?)_

 **A/N: It's like 1:13 am. I haven't proof read this or anything, just take my garbage and enjoy**

 **I love ya'll so much rn I'm like blushing from the amount of praise (keep reviewing, I'm a total attention hog)**

 **Leeful: You're a hoe, Akane. Lololol Update Misfortune pls before I cry**

 **STFUSAM: Honestly, yeah. I feel you sis. Thanks so much for reviewing!**

 **Pinksakura271: GURL ME TOO! The blues are my fav! I'm so happy you liked it! Yeah, clearly Blossy is still head over heels for the red ruff, it probably would explain her awkwardness. Oh Buttercup and Butch are going to be something alright, I hope this satisfies you for now c:**

 **Ti: Thank you so much! I'm thrilled you enjoyed the first chapter! Haha, I hope this greens reaction works for you! I love the blues the most, funny enough. I hope you liked this chapter as much as the first one!**

 **Ruffle: AHHH! Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to review. I hope this chapter answers some of your questions, but fear not. We'll definitely see how the boys ended up in this situation sooner or later c;**

 **HaLinhLinh: You picked my story to be the first gang au you've read?! I'm screaming, thank you so much for taking the time to read this! I'm glad you've enjoyed it, cutie!**

 **T. Mari: Girl, I know I've already replied to you but I just wanna thank you again for reviewing!**

 **Till next time, my lovelies!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Welcome back for chapter 3 my lovelies!**

 **Again, the rating's T/M in general for the entire story itself. I really don't want to traumatise ya'll if you're like twelve lol.**

 **BLESS YOU ALL FOR READING!**

* * *

 _(I can't control it, can you?_

 _This fire path is spreading too quickly._

 _Don't stop me)_

" _So what's the deal between you and the boys lately?"_

 _Blossom stiffened as she put her pen down to turn towards the door, Buttercup leaning against the doorframe, a citrus smoothie in hand_

" _What do you mean?"_

" _What I mean," she rolled her olive coloured eyes "—is why the hell are you avoiding them like plague? Boomer said hi to you by our lockers and you ignored him, Butch went to sit next to you at the table and you just coincidentally have to leave?"_

 _Turning back towards her work, Blossom frowned "I don't know that you're talking about. I didn't hear Boomer say anything this morning and I literally had to go photocopy my biology work for my group project"_

 _Buttercup raised her eyebrow "Is that why every time the boys stepped within ten metres near you, you'd run for the hills? Yeah, I'm not buying this. What the hell's your problem?"_

 _Blossom scowled immediately "There is no problem! Brick isn't complaining about anything is he!?"_

 _She then blinked "Actually, now that I think about it, I haven't seen Brick around you all day—wait"_

 _The raven haired sister's jaw dropped as the pieces clicked together in her brain and Blossom winced "Are you frigging kidding me?! You and Brick are going through some bullshit and so you're ignoring Butch and Boomer too?"_

" _Language," Blossom reprimanded, rolling her eyes before picking her pen back up and resuming her assignment "Oh please Buttercup, as if I'd be that immature"_

 _Irritated, Buttercup span on her heel to leave her sister's bedroom "You freaking suck at lying, leader girl"_

 _The door slammed shut and Blossom threw her book at the wall_

* * *

It was way too frigging' early for her head to be pounding like this

Bubbles doesn't know when she'd fallen asleep, but when she wakes up she reckons she's had a good eight hours of sleep, at the very least.

She rolls over, eyes drifting back close and pulling the covers up and under her chin. Her head hurts and she's still exhausted, both mentally and physically.

 _Her childhood friend was a murderer_

Bubbles pulled the covers further up to cover her entire face as she tried to piece together what had happened

Her night started off pretty normal. She went to Mitch's birthday party with Blossom and Buttercup being there. Had some drinks, danced until she felt the need to go take a cab home.

And then her friend who she hadn't seen since the eighth grade appeared seemingly out of nowhere with a gang and basically shot her driver.

…. _What the fuck_

And now she was asleep in some stranger's bed. Nice

Okay no, not a stranger. A stranger would probably be easier to deal with.

Pulling her lips into a tight line, she pulls the covers away from her face and sits up, wincing at both, the sight of the makeup stained pillow case and how her head spins when she's sitting upright.

Whoops

God she needed her phone. Buttercup probably wouldn't really realise she wasn't home for a while but Blossom—

Bubbles winced at the thought of dealing with her red headed sister. She was a morning person ugh.

Throwing the covers off completely, Bubbles yawns and makes her way towards her purse on the desk chair, unzipping the leather and looking for her iPhone.

It's not there

Raising both eyebrows in surprise, she begins to empty its entire contents onto Boomer's bed, panic slowly starting to rise

"Oh my god, do not fucking tell me I've lost my phone. I literally just got a new one last week!" she gawked

It wasn't until she heard vibrating, before her head snapped up and she turned to try and find the object, praying it was her own phone.

When she turned back towards her (his) bed, she almost groaned at the sight of her phone on the bedside drawer, being charged.

Her eyes light up, and she goes to pick up her silver iPhone in relief. Turning the brightness down immediately, Bubbles idly scrolls through her notification wall, most of it social media based.

A small smile threatens to give way as she dully realises that Boomer must've left her phone on charge while she passed out—it doesn't last long

Her face falls because _no._

She can't be acting like everything was okay

She should be calling the police but somehow can't bring herself to do the task

 _Disgustingdisgustingdisgusting_

It wasn't difficult. Three numbers was all she had to dial but instead her eyes find themselves looking around his room, pausing.

It wasn't until her phone vibrated in her hand did she snap out of her trance. Eyes wide, Bubbles can literally feel her heart stop at the numerous missed calls from her sisters and the texts about her whereabouts from her friends

Ughhhh she was so going to die. It wasn't just Blossom, but Buttercup was aware of her absence too.

The only good thing about the entire situation was the absence of the Professor

 _I'd be writing my will if he was in town_

It was already almost one in the afternoon. The blonde bit her bottom lip, cogs turning in her brain as she tried to formulate a plan.

Blossom had probably called Buttercup the moment she realised that she wasn't home. Great.

Depending on the time had first Blossom called, she could do a rough estimate on what time her ginger haired sister had woken up and play her absence off as for leaving early to go study for mid-terms.

Bubbles groaned into her hands in distress before pulling up her phone and calling her Blossom and makes a face when she's being sent straight to voicemail.

 _Wow okay, rude_

"Hey"

 _Holy shit she almost screamed_

Instead, the blonde looks up from her screen and turns towards the teen leaning against the doorframe, holding a towel and having the audacity to be wearing a gymshark's t-shirt and a pair of black Adidas track pants.

Okay, so she had now learned that he went to the gym. Nice, nice

She gulps "Hi"

He doesn't really look that out of breathe and it wasn't like she could smell the guy from where she stood, but her mind quickly comes towards the conclusion that he had just taken a shower.

Cobalt eyes glance around the room for a quick second and Bubbles can literally feel her heart stop when he brings his gaze back towards her and throws her a lazy, haphazard grin

"So, brunch?"

* * *

Buttercup Utonium was pissed

They're all seated on Mitch's run down couches, and it is way too fucking silent for her liking

Butch is sat on the couch besides Brick, grinning and looking thrilled about the entire thing, tapping his fingers against his knee repeatedly while his brother seemed unaffected and on his phone, scrolling through his social media as if he didn't give a flying fuck about the situation.

Blossom was starting to get impatient besides her, confusion in her pink orbs and Mitch—

Mitch looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here

Finally, having enough of this utter bullshit, Buttercup snarls "Alright, what the fuck is going on, where did you fuckers even—"

"Your sister's missing" Brick fights back the urge to yawn, finally looking up from his phone "I suggest worrying about her"

"You mean the blonde one? Bubbles?" Butch blinks, leaning forward

"No Butch, their other sister Gertrude" Brick deadpanned

The onyx haired teen didn't seem fazed and just grinned, eyes dark "Really now? Hey Mitch, wasn't there that porn star who had the same name—"

Both sisters span around to face the teen with their eyes flashing with murder—

"Butch, shut the fuck up" his brother snapped before they could, there wasn't a trace of a smile on his features as he glared at Butch.

Butch rolled his eyes, still grinning as the girls narrowed their eyes at him "So, Blondie's missing" he raises an eyebrow towards Blossom, making it a point to ignore Buttercup

He smirked "What're you going to do about it?"

"Are you implying that you know where she is? Because Butch, I swear to God I'm going to—"she stood up, green eyes blazing

"Wow okay, breathe Butterbutt. I don't know fucking shit" he snarled, pissed at the implications she was throwing his way.

Blossom, who had been silent for the majority of this entire encounter, turned to Mitch "And how do you know the boys?"

Mitch blinked, surprised to be finally included in this little middle school reunion "Well shit Blossom, we grew up in this neighbourhood"

"You're forgetting middle school" Buttercup snapped causing the brunet to glance at her, eye brow raising at the harshness in her tone

Butch snorted "Only, we didn't really talk much back in middle school, did we Mitchel?" his tone held amusement but there was sarcasm undermining it

There it was

The thread that was keeping her sanity together had snapped and Buttercup's lime green eyes flashed with fury as she got to her feet and stood in front of the raven haired gang member

"Excuse me?! So you're going to be fucking acting all chummy with the one person who you weren't fucking friends with in the first place?"

 _Jesus fucking Christ she was so pissed that she could actually feel green light start to dance along her limbs_ —it didn't of course but good lord did she want to sucker punch this asshole's face in

Butch just rose to his feet, murky green eyes boring into her own as he snarled down at her "Oh, you would _know_ all about being chummy wouldn't you—"

"Are you seriously going to keep fucking forgetting that your sister is missing?" Brick's voice suddenly rang, and Blossom immediately turned towards him

"Of course not!"

"Really?" Brick asked, bringing his eyes up from his phone to bore into her own

"Well, it doesn't really seem like you're all that concerned considering I have to keep bringing you back towards the main reason on why we're all here in the first place."

Blossom opened her mouth, eyes flashing but the- retort died in her throat at the realisation that he was right. Frowning, the rubbed her temples.

Buttercup pauses, turning towards Blossom she stared at her sister levelly "Is that Brick's jacket?"

The redhead colours, groaning. "It was a last minute thing okay?! I was worried about Bubbles and it was the first thing I grabbed!"

"Okay, but why is it zipped all the way up?" the raven haired teen scrunches her face up in question

It goes deathly quiet. Blossom averting her eyes and Mitch's eyebrows raise up towards his forehead in interest. Butch snorts loudly, putting two and two together and Brick continues texting on his phone

Reaching her limit, Buttercup stood up, grabbing her jacket from the coat rank and moved to put her shoes on and socks off.

"Buttercup, where the hell are you going?" her sister balked, embarrassment momentarily forgotten

"I'm over this. I'm over them, I'm over it all. I'm gonna go find my sister before I fucking lose my mind" she snapped, after tying the laces to her sneakers and heading towards the door.

"We don't even know where she is! Buttercup!" Mitch stood up. Butch smirked, tapping his foot against the floor in excitement.

Blossom grabbed onto her arm "Mitch is right—Dear God I never thought I'd say that. But he is, you've got no car Buttercup and you don't even know the area"

She yanked her arm free "I don't give a flying fuck. Sitting here arguing isn't going to solve anything. Call me if anything happens"

The door slammed shut behind her and Butch shoot up to his feet instantly, moving past everyone to get to the door.

"Butch"

He froze, twitching and turning his head around while his hand gripped on the door handle in anticipation.

Brick stared at the back of his unpredictable brother with reluctance in his eyes before sighing in the way one would when having to remind a child not to steal any cookies from the counter "Don't fuck up"

The grin on Butch's face didn't do anything to ease his brother's mind when he turned his body in order to face him.

"You're the boss"

The door slammed shut for the second time and Mitch stared, gobsmacked

"Wha- That's it?! We're just going to let them go?"

"Butch knows what he's doing" Brick said, unbothered as he got out of his seat and fixed his hair in the mirror.

"But that's—oh fuck me is that the fire alarm?!" Mitch stood up, alarmed before running into his kitchen

"HOLY SHIT MY STOVES ON FIRE!" he cried out in distress

Blossom smacked her forehead before turning towards the other teen, determination in her eyes "I'm going to look for her too"

"Okay. Good luck with that" Brick frowned when he noticed how his hair was growing under his red cap.

Well that wouldn't do. He was going to have to book himself in for a haircut.

She frowned at that, looking somewhat disappointed "Wha—you're not going to come?"

"Uh, no. Why do you think I let Butch go?"

Blossom's frown deepened, confusion swarming in her pink orbs "Are you telling me that you order your own brothers—wait no. Forget about that. Brick, Bubbles was your friend too"

"Yeah, was being the keyword. Hakuna Matata and all that shit. The past is in the past" he waved off

 _And just like that Blossom Utonium's heart was shattered for the second time that day._

Her hand reached out and smacked him across the face, eyes brimming with tears of hatred

"So what, you're going to just sit there doing nothing?!"

Brick's face immediately curled and within seconds she was slammed against ripped up wallpaper with his hands on either side of her head

"You fucking listen right now Utonium. I did not have to drive you home last night, I could've easily left you out there for any other fucking gang to come out and grab your pretty little face" he gripped her chin, bringing her head up to look him in the eye.

She inhaled sharply through her nose at the uncomfortable amount of pressure he was releasing onto her jaw. Her neon pink eyes wide as streams managed to escape her eyes.

"I could've fucking left you there. But for the sake of past relations I didn't. I did not have to come drive you around as your own personal chauffeur and bring you here either. So either shut the fuck up and be grateful or get the hell out of my territory"

"Excuse me!? Your territory? What are you—?"

Brick opened his mouth to retort, annoyance still flaring in his blood red eyes

"Okay, good news guys. I've eliminated the fire, thanks so much for the help by the way but I—WHOA. Uh, shit am I interrupting something? I mean, even though I live here I guess I could come back"

Brick rolled his eyes, glaring at the stunned teen he had pressed up against the wall before reluctantly stepping away and heading for the door.

He turned to Mitch, condescending "We'll come back for the money tomorrow or something"

The brunet nodded "Yeah man, sure—Wait a second. Blossom, aren't you with Dexter?"

Brick slammed the door for the third time that afternoon.

Both remaining teens stared at the door. Blossom, shaking from discomposure and Mitch in a mixture of annoyance and exasperation

"You know, that door is literally hanging on by a thread, looking as if it's about to fall apart off the hinges any second now and all of you are really not helping my situation here"

Stunned, Blossom stares at the door. Bunching up the leather sleeves in her hands.

* * *

"Why the hell are you here?" Buttercup spat "Why don't you just fuck off? You're good at that, remember"

"Ouch. Better tone it down with the shade BC, I can actually feel the sun reeling"

Oh for the love of—

"Can you go?" she said brusquely "I don't have the fucking time to be—"

"Then stop being a bitch and let's go" Butch deadpanned, grabbing onto her arm

She bristled "Excuse me?!"

"You need me, dumbass." He leaned against a street lamp, casually counting his points with his fingers "You don't know the area, don't have any methods of transportation and oh—"

Butch smiled dangerously and Buttercup could literally feel her heart stop

"Mitch's shirt is white—great choice by the way but it's also thin as hell, doing nothing to censor your tits and your ass is on fine display whenever you stomp away pissed but hey" he shrugged

"You can keep going, I was never one to complain about a good view" he jeered, eyes dazzling green

Buttercup's jaw dropped, visibly shaking from anger "I'm going to fucking kill you, Butch!" she raised her fist before Butch rolled his eyes and easily grabs her wrist and holds it down

"Can you fucking stop? Bubbles is missing but your head's too far up your ass to even bother accepting help when it's being served to you on a golden platter"

"I don't need your fucking help Asswipe! What, I'm just going to let you tag along with me only to bail when shit gets intense?!"

Butch breathed in sharply. Okay, ouch. "I'm not asking you to—"

"Not asking me to what?! Fucking call your house phone for hours? Cycle down your old street to see if by some miracle you and your brothers have moved back? Damnit, I waited for you!"

He cracked

"For fucks sake Buttercup I'm sorry!" he flared, and her head snapped up, sniffing loudly as she felt her eyes widening.

 _Holy shit_

"Does that make you feel better? Can you fucking act like a decent human being now?! I'm sorry!"

For once, she's sort of left speechless because the Butch Jojo that she knew, never was good with apologies. They were half assed at most but this—

In one swift movement he ripped off his jacket and hurled it over her head. Irritated, he stormed back towards his motorbike which laid parked against Mitch's half demolished fence looking like it was in need of a wash, in contrast to what she assumed was Brick's, which was seemingly flawless and looked brand new.

"What the hell is this for?" she asked, her tone now stripped of its bite

"Jesus Christ Utonium, I just frigging told you that your tits were on display!" Butch growled, inserting the key into his bike's ignition.

Looking down, Buttercup blinked as she realised her bra was not there and yes, her 'tits' were definitely on display.

Her lip curled in disgust as she threw the jacket on. Ugh double standards and misogyny were going to be the end of her.

"That's not enough—the apology I mean" she brought her hands into the pockets of his jacket, not knowing what to do with them in a situation so bizarre.

"You've gotta tell me what happened back then"

"Yeah" he kicked at a bottle in his way before hopping onto his bike "I will"

Her cheeks suddenly felt very warm when Butch drove towards her and stopped, pulling his helmet on "Well? Is that good enough?"

She stares at him, her expression mixed before bringing herself to meet his eyes despite the helmet he had on

 _Ah what the hell_

" _Yeah"_

She climbs on behind him and he grins "Let's fucking do this BC!"

It isn't until they're finally moving does she blink "I really don't fucking see a problem if my nipples are visible"

"Yeah? I don't either but society—especially this fucking area does so we don't got' much of choice now do we, sugar?"

"So shouldn't I fucking challenge the system?"

"Sure. I'll even join you in the next women's march but it's fucking February you dickhead. You're going to freeze" he rolled his eyes and began picking up the speed down the street, Mitch's house out of sight.

Buttercup found her lips twitching upwards "I'm still going to kill you"

"Get in line"

* * *

" _Isn't it a little bit too early to be indulging in that kind of crap" Brick wrinkled his nose in disgust as the raven haired pair sat in front of him, chowing down on their cheese burgers and fries._

" _No" they replied in unison, mirroring in their expressions of bliss_

 _Brick stared at them wondering how long their hearts would be able to handle the cholesterol intake at the rate they were going at before rolling his eyes and high lighting quotes in his script for English class._

" _Isn't that essay due in like…a week?" Buttercup asked, smacking Butch's hand away from her sweet potato fries before grabbing her milkshake_

" _Yeah" the redhead replied, bored as he jotted down notes_

 _Butch sneered, nursing his hand before turning his attention back towards his brother "Nerd"_

" _Asswipe" the redhead didn't bat an eye_

 _Buttercup laughed at the interaction before sucking on her straw and looking over at Brick's notes "Blossom's pretty much almost done with her essay, so I guess it's not that surprising"_

" _What the hell? We literally only got assigned it yesterday! What about Bubbly?" Butch asked, gawking_

" _She's only started the intro" Boomer replied, grabbing Buttercup and Butch's shoulders and jumping in the space between them on the bench_

 _Brick rolled his eyes "And how far have you got?"_

" _I share English with Blossom too, so pretty fucking far" he responded, smug as he reached over to steal a couple of Butch's fries and moved to sit opposite the raven haired pair and next to Brick._

 _Boomer shoved them into his mouth before his brother could protest and grinned_

" _Nooo, damn you!" Butch glared and stuffed the remainder of his burger into his mouth and guarded his fries like a watchdog before anyone else could attempt to eat them._

 _Buttercup snorted as Butch began to choke on the remainder of his burger and launch into a coughing fit_

" _Dude, you are so fucking lame" she smacked his back and he heaved deeply_

 _Boomer snickered while Brick began putting his sheets away into his English folder._

" _So how'd that thing go yesterday?" she asked, crumpling up the wrapper for her burger and fries before throwing them into the trash can besides their table_

 _All three boys focused their attention onto her immediately_

" _What thing?" Boomer asked, stealing Butch's soda and taking deep gulps causing the teen to glare at his brother and snatch it back_

" _When the three of you had to leave early, duh" Buttercup made a face_

 _Butch opened his mouth, tense "We had—"_

"— _we have to head back inside, the bell's about to ring" Brick realised when he glanced at his watch. He slung his backpack over his shoulders and threw Butch a look of animosity when Buttercup brought her attention towards her own watch._

 _Boomer caught the look and casually rose to his feet, stretching "Ugh, our homeroom's too fucking far from this courtyard"_

" _Shit, you're right! Blossom's going to kill me if I'm late again!" she groaned, jumping out of her seat and grabbing her own bag_

" _Guess we better get going then, shouldn't we?" Brick spoke, keeping his expression amiable when she pulled a face towards the trio._

 _He immediately started heading back towards the building, Buttercup and Boomer following close behind, with the onyx haired teen offering the rest of her shake towards the blond._

 _Boomer's face lit up and he continued sucking on the rest of the beverage without second thoughts, seemingly engrossed in their new conversation._

" _Butch! Let's go!"_

 _Butch stared at their retreating figures with his jaw clenched before inhaling deeply. Annoyance in his expression as he stared towards the back of Brick's head before quickly changing his expression to one that seemed friendlier as he ran after the trio._

" _You fuckers need to slow down!"_

* * *

Bubbles Utonium had no idea on what the hell kind of situation she landed herself into.

Turning the shower off and wincing when she opened the glass doors, steam rushing out while she reached out to grab a towel.

She was in a house. This was great, she liked houses. She lived in a house.

"Why the hell am I here" she deadpanned, drying her face first before anything.

 _This is way too freaking weird—she was in the house of a murderer_

 _It wasn't just weird_

 _It was wrong._

After finally drying herself off, the blonde wrapped herself in a towel, before grabbing another one to dry her hair with.

 _This was way too freaking uncomfortable_

"I have no lotion, no hair serum, and no frizz control" she muttered, distraught as she wrapped her hair up into a sort of turban and peeked out of the bathroom and into Boomer's bedroom

Relieved that the bedroom door to the hallway was still locked as she left it, Bubbles shuffled into the bedroom, frowning "I doubt he even has any hair straighteners. This is a disaster."

Bubbles stared at her outfit from the night before and sighed "I can't believe I slept in that" she muttered, before changing into the oversized white Adidas t-shirt that clearly didn't belong to her.

Yawning, she threw on the pair of black shorts he had been so kind as to leave for her that were way too fucking big that the ends went over her knees.

Staring at herself in the mirror, Bubbles threw her head back in frustration.

She looked like a child playing dress up

Bubbles felt her eye twitch so she pulled at the clothing, rolling it up by the elastic so that it became high waisted.

Still irritated, the blonde tugged at the drawstrings, making sure to tie them tightly before giving herself another look over in the mirror.

….No she needed a belt or something, this wasn't going to work.

Begrudgingly, she realises that her borrowed shorts don't even have belt loops and grabs a hair tie instead, bunching the material by her waist up and tying it.

"I suppose it's better than nothing" she remarks drily at her reflection before returning the towel that was used into the laundry basket and setting her now damp hair free from the towel wrapped around her head.

She briefly wondered why she had even bothered to wash her hair when none of her products where with her. It wasn't until she had wet her hair and gone to grab the shampoo bottle that clearly wasn't advertised for her did she realise her mistake.

"At this point, I'm just thrilled he had the common sense to have both, shampoo and conditioner and not some two-in-one bullshit" she muttered, frowning once again at her overall appearance before rummaging through her purse.

Pulling out a random Victoria's secret body spray the blonde leisurely sprayed it around herself and grabbed her hand cream.

She didn't even have a freaking hair brush with her.

 _This was bullshit_

Looking back through her purse, the most she had to get ready with was a light pink lip gloss, some lip balm and a tube of mascara she had bought the other day and had totally forgotten about.

In all honesty, her irritated state was new. She was a total go with the flow type of person, but this—this was just beyond even her.

Sighing, the blonde grabbed her carmex, unscrewing the cap before lathering her lips with the balm while she stepped in front of the mirror.

 _She just wanted to go home_

"Bubbles?" she heard the door knock

 _Holy shit hello_

She almost jumps but turns her attention towards the door. Realising that it was still locked, the blonde quickly makes her way towards it to unlock the door and grant the other teenager passage into his own room.

Pulling the door open to reveal Boomer, looking up from his phone.

Bubbles swears she can actually feel heat creep up her neck with the way he so blatantly looks her over, a small smirk of amusement on his features and she summarises that she wants to die

"Cute"

She almost pouts— _almost_ but that would just lead to more teasing and the blonde really didn't think she could handle that.

The guy was an ass, a complete 180 from who she had known six years prior.

It kind of hurt

"I've gotta go home" she says tiredly instead, and Boomer just raises an eyebrow at her

"You don't want to eat first?"

 _Honestly, I just want to get the hell away from you_ "I've been basically missing all night. My family is probably worried" she goes to grab her coat off of his chair, but he beats her to it. Holding it out for her to take.

 _I don't know why I'm here_

Timidly, she grabs her jacket as he continues to stare at her and Bubbles uncomfortably avoids his gaze, shifting from one foot to the other and playing with the hem of her (his) shirt.

 _I don't want to be here_

"You know," he starts off, and despite how light his tone is, she feels the room go cold

"We haven't seen each other in what? Five years? Six?" he raises an eyebrow in question

 _Why the hell am I here?_

"Kinda a suck-y reunion, don't you think?" he asks and Bubbles doesn't really know how to respond.

She kind of wants to throw a brick at his face "When did you move back?" she asks instead

Bored, Boomer walks over towards one of his bass guitars and pulls a face, taking it down before sitting himself down at the edge of his bed and beginning to fix one of the strings that had become loose "During the summer, from Citiesville"

She frowns and goes to put her stilettos back on "its February now"

He brings his gaze back up to meet her own "That it is"

 _Are you kidding me?_

"Summer was months ago," she muttered "why didn't you visit" she grabs her phone and removes the cable from it. Pocketing it into her _(his)_ short pockets

He laughs but there's no mirth in his eyes and Bubbles's mouth goes dry "Didn't really think you'd all still care"

What

What

WHAT!?

Her expression hardens instantly as she grabs her coat and swings her handbag over her shoulder "Don't fucking lie to me"

"It's true" Boomer stands up to put his now fixed guitar back on its stand and turns around to face her

"When we left, we pretty much dropped off the face of the earth to everyone right?" he shrugged his own jacket back on, before standing in front of her and Bubbles pales at the insignia once more

"Why? Why would you do that?!"

He grins "Who knows? Definitely wasn't my idea." he bends down towards her "But to tell you the truth Bubbly," his expression changing entirely and she yelps, stumbling backwards and finds herself sitting back down on the edge of his head with his face way too fucking close for comfort

He cups her face, thumb running across her cheek, his face somewhat devoid of emotion

"We really fucking hated this stupid town"

* * *

 _Its bloody freezing_

Buttercup doesn't understand what part of her brain decided to leave the house pants-less. She was going to fucking die all because she was too pissed to grab a pair of her sweatpants from Mitch's room.

She's sort of relieved about the jacket zipped, keeping her waist up relatively warm.

But her legs—holy shit they were doomed in this February weather

They've been driving all over Townsville for hours and she just wants to find her sister and go home already

"Try calling her again" Butch says, slowing down to a stop in an area that Buttercup's completely unaware of

She's lived in Townsville all of her freaking life and she's never actually seen the upper class. It's weird.

"This place is fucking creepy" she mutters, eyeing the giant houses wearily and grabbing her cell phone from the jacket pockets. Butch barks out a laugh, amused

"I found you in one of the rough neighbourhoods in Townsville today, and you call this place creepy?"

"Yeah, can you imagine all the rich fucks walking around here? They probably spend thousands on unnecessary bullshit while people like Mitch are barely scraping by. Wouldn't hurt to donate to Townsville's homeless programme" she scowls

"How the fuck do they sleep at night" she mutters, unlocking her IPhone and going onto her contacts to call her blonde sister.

Butch is uncharacteristically quiet, which alone should be a warning sign because Butch never did quiet

He was loud and boisterous and an absolute asshole

But hell, it's been six years

 _Everything's changed_

Continuing to drive through the neighbourhood, Buttercup frowns at the back of Butch's head while she presses her phone against her ear

It was fucking scary how fast they were clicking back together. She's supposed to be pissed at the motherfucker but the fire's gone—no that wasn't right.

She was still angry, yeah but it wasn't enough. She wasn't mad enough to actually do anything

"You were always such a lowkey goodie two shoes" he chuckles, snapping her back into reality and she scowls

"Excuse me?" she pulls the phone away after hearing it go to voicemail yet again

"No, hear me out. Blossom and Bubbles were definitely into it—well Blossom probably more considering she used to snap at us all for swearing and the bullshit lectures about us keeping up with our assignments" he snorts, making a U-turn and heading for Townsville central

"Blondie was also pretty passionate about animal's rights and shit right? The bitch lead an entire assembly on it back then" he went on

"But you're like, this badass but for all the good reasons—Okay, fuck that makes it sound like your sisters reasons aren't" he blinks, collecting his thoughts

"Shit like poverty gets you riled up, but you're right to feel so. If someone got mugged right now your dumbass would probably try to catch the bitch" he laughs "You catching my drift?"

Buttercup blinks "You're a weird motherfucker Butch, you know that?"

"Screw you. This is the last fucking time I try to compliment you"

She hides her smile by turning around, watching the scenery go by—

"Wait! Butch, stop!" she suddenly snapped, eyes widening "Damnit Butch, stop fucking driving!" she griped, smacking his shoulder blades several times while facing the other direction

For his part, Butch manages to not tip the two of them over in the middle of the road despite his passenger acting like a maniac and banging on his back, and has them come to a complete standstill in the middle of the road.

Pissed, the raven haired male turns to glare daggers at the other teen "Bitch, what the fuck-?"

She grabbed his head with both hands and turned it towards the direction she was gawking at.

"What?" he demanded,

Butch paused, blinking at the scene "What the fuck" he repeats, a grin slowly forming "is that—?"

"You have got to be freaking kidding me" Buttercup mutters, hopping off of the bike entirely and storming towards the café,

Butch follows only after he's properly parked his vehicle, grinning widely as he picks up his pace to catch up towards the boiling teen.

Seething, Buttercup storms right up towards the front of the queue, where some guy was paying for her sister's food and grabs Bubbles by the shoulder, spinning her around to glare at her.

"Bubbles, what the hell?!"

The blonde's jaw drops entirely "Oh…Buttercup, heyyy" she drawls, eyes wide like a deer in the headlights.

"Where the hell have you been?!"

"…Around?" she tilts her head, innocently "C'mon BC we're holding up the queue" she mutters, grabbing his sister by the arm and leading her towards a table

Buttercup stared at the blonde in disbelief as she found herself seated at Starbucks in Townsville central, her eyes narrowing

"Stop avoiding my question"

 _Well shit, she was still trying to figure out how to word her answer_

"I'm not, I just—Oh my god is that Butch?!" sky blue eyes doubling in size as she saw the other raven haired teen in the queue waiting for his order.

"Never mind him, he's irrelevant to this conversation—what the fuck are you doing here!?" Buttercup suddenly gapes and Boomer grins, standing beside their table with two to-go cups of coffee.

"Oh hey Butters, you good?"

Bubbles hides her face behind her hands in distress, Buttercup still gawking at the blond teen who went back to collect the rest of the order

"What the fuck?!"

 _This was so fucking weird_

"We'll talk later, I promise" she muttered and Buttercup narrowed her eyes causing Bubbles to raise her eyebrow and indicate towards the jacket that she was currently adorning.

"…Yeah okay fine we'll talk about it at home" she muttered

Bubbles really wanted to die, but focused her gaze on the other approaching teen behind Buttercup, jaw dropping slightly as Butch took a seat in between her and her sister

"Oh my god" Bubbles stared

"Holy fucking shit," Butch begins "This is some freaking day, let me tell you" putting his plate down with a fresh pretzel and his coffee mug "Like, no joke. I'm in tears" he grins

"How've you been Bubbly?"

The blonde haired teen really didn't know how to respond other than give a weak smile "Good?"

 _What the fuck was even happening_ Buttercup narrows her eyes at Bubbles, ignoring the other teen "Why're you with Boomer?"

"Say what!?" Butch coughs, mouthful of pretzel and laughing loudly, causing various customers seated to shoot their table looks of disapproval

"Boomer's here?" he snorts, grabbing a napkin to wipe his face in hilarity

Bubbles opens her mouth to respond but pauses at the figure placing more plates full of food on their table before taking a seat opposite his brother and in between the two sisters.

"Whoa, déjà vu much" Boomer snorts, taking a sip of his drink and grinning widely

Butch throws his head back and laughs "This is fucking wild, yo" he went ahead, grabbing one of the forks and taking a portion of his brother's chocolate cake

"I have no idea on what's even happening right now" Buttercup admits bluntly, staring at the scene unfolding before turning to her sister with an eyebrow raises

Bubbles just shrugs "Don't even" she scoots her chair further away from the blond and goes to grab her cheese and marmite toastie and the raven haired teen just frowns

"C'mon Buttercup, you wanted to find your sister. Now you have" Butch smirks "You didn't get any breakfast right?"

"It's almost three in the afternoon" she points out

"I'm sorry, but what time do stomach's open? Just fucking eat something already"

"Give me your pretzel then," Buttercup stared at him challengingly

"No way, get your own" he pulled his plate closer towards his being protectively, glaring at her

Bubbles stared at the two of them, eyes softening at their bickering, resting her chin in her palm

"So how's your dad been?" Butch suddenly asks, mouthful of food

"The Professor?" Buttercup blinked

"He's good. He's at some convention out of town, should be back tonight" Bubbles answers and Buttercup pales, instinctively zipping her (Butch's) jacket further up, even though it did nothing to conceal the few hickeys she had.

"Oh my god no, he's coming back tonight?!"

"It's Saturday so yeah" the blonde remarks drily "I suggest NARS concealer for your neck"

Buttercup flashed her a warning glare and Boomer snorted loudly, entertained as he ripped one of the many sugar packets he'd snagged off the counter and poured its contents into his coffee.

Butch chose this moment to rip his packet of potato chips rather noisily, causing some of its contents to pour onto the table

"Oops" he said, looking completely unapologetic as he grabbed a handful and chewed loudly with his mouth open

"Okay, ew" Buttercup scowled "That's fucking gross" she kicked his leg from under the table and he grinned widely

"The princess doesn't approve?"

Her eye twitched and Bubbles immediately offered one of her brownies as a distraction (peace offering). Butch's eyes sparkled

"Are these pot brownies?"

"What the fuck. This is Starbucks" Buttercup stared in disbelief

Butch shrugged, uncaring as he took a bite out of it "Couldn't hurt to ask"

The blond besides her idly began cutting another piece of his cake "So, this is pretty fucking weird. Too bad we're missing the reds"

Buttercup turned towards him, eyes narrowing "They're at my boyfriend's place"

Now, it was Bubbles's time to choke on her drink "You mean Blossom's at Mitch's house with Brick?!"

Butch stabs the cake with his fork and Boomer's eyes light up in recognition, and Bubbles doesn't like the way she finds the action ridiculously cute "Wait Mitch?" he asks

"Like the crackhead Mitch?" the blond snorts, turning to Butch with one eyebrow cocked in question, amusement swarming in his orbs

"She's banging crackhead Mitch" Butch confirms, stabbing his dessert once again before both sisters turn towards the boys

"Mitch isn't a crackhead" Buttercup comes out of her daze and turns towards the two men in annoyance "Stoner, yeah but he's not a crackhead"

Butch opens his mouth, murky eyes sparkling in sadism and Buttercup feels her breathe get caught in her throat in surprise—

"Everybody put your hands up!"

 _What_

The entire café looks up from what they're doing to the entrance, three masked figures barge into the room, guns up as they storm towards the centre of the room, two more guarding the entrance.

 _BITCH WHAT?!_

"Nobody fucking move or we're lighting this place up" one of the members yelled and Buttercup's entire face morphs into anger

 _What the hell?! This was a café not a fucking bank!_

"Nice Boom" Butch snorts under his breath "You picked the one place that was going to get robbed" amused as he took in the scene

 _What kind of amateur thugs rob a Starbucks instead of a bank? This was bullshit_

Boomer rolls his eyes, otherwise seeming disinterested in the robbers in the background and turns back to take another slice of cake

"Bitch, I said not to move!" the tall one snapped, yanking a brunette towards him by a fistful of hair and pointed a gun to her temple, grabbing her phone out of her hand and throwing it across the room

Bubbles's jaw dropped, hands flying upwards to cover her mouth while Buttercup's stare hardened

 _Whatthehellwhatthehellwhatthehell_

Who Buttercup assumes as the leader makes their way towards the centre of the room, kicking one of the chairs out of their way, dark eyes searching.

Olive green eyes lock with theirs and Buttercup glares, tense but she's quickly dismissed and the leader's attention is brought towards the two boys sitting on either side of her.

She turns back round to face Butch and then stares at his jacket, the one she was wearing. Immediately, everything clicks

 _You have got to be fucking kidding me—_

"Oi, Grubber, Lil' Arturo. Get your asses over here"

She freezes

Holy shit she knows that voice

She totally fucking recognises that voice

Bubbles pulls her purse closer towards her, frowning as the three figures approach their table whereas Buttercup seems to be frozen

Which was a first to be quiet honest with you

"Is this seriously happening right now" Bubbles muttered and Boomer finally looked up from his plate in annoyance, resting his chin against his fist

"All of you shut the hell up or I blow your fucking brains out" the man snapped, before motioning them towards the exit

"Stand up, all of you"

"Or what?" Butch looked giddy as the leader stood in front of him "You gonna shoot me?" he leaned in, eyes sparkling as he began tapping the ground with his foot "Well? You gonna shoot a bullet between my eyes or not?"

Buttercup whirled round to goggle at him "Butch shut the fuck up!"

"GET UP!"

The short one, pulled out his gun and shot the lights above on the ceiling, glass shattering. The girls got to their feet instantly and Bubbles turned towards the boys, alarmed that they were still in their seats and sipping their drinks as if there wasn't a fucking gun being shoved in their faces.

"Butch, Boomer! Get the hell up!" Bubbles shrieked

Oh my god she wanted to scream

 _Why was this happening_

Reluctantly, both boys slowly stood up, and the two other figures pointed guns towards their backs

"Move"

Buttercup felt numb, as the four teens walked in the direction they were being directed towards, the back exit.

Whoever the hell the leader was, he had stayed inside. Along with the final two members who continued to stay by the entrance, unmoving as they prevented anyone from escaping.

It wasn't until they reached a van outside did the short one speak again "Get inside"

"No" Boomer pouted and Butch laughed

"Do you fuckers have any idea on what I just said?" he snapped impatiently "Get the hell inside!"

Bubbles flinches at the tone, a spectre being nudged harshly into her side and she obeys. Immediately stepping into the vehicle, Buttercup following straight after her.

Butch glances towards his blond brother in glee, whereas Boomer just looked at the gun being prodded at him with his eyebrows raised in interest

"I like your gun" Boomer smiled

 _Bubbles feels her heart stop and Buttercup snaps her gaze towards the teens in shock. Her blood cold_

 _NONONONO_

 _WHY WERE THEY SO DUMB!?_

"Yeah," Butch then jeers, pulling his face close enough towards one of them that their foreheads almost touched. Whipping out his own gun and pressing the barrel right between the masked figure's eyes

"Mind if we keep it?"

Bubbles suddenly shrieks as Boomer snatched the firearm, smashing it against the back of the guy's head, which in reality wasn't that hard of a task given that the guy barely made it to five feet.

The robber grabbed his head, spinning around dazed. Boomer grinned, taking the opportunity to kick the figure to the trash cans almost a metre away before walking over and hoisting him up by the collar

Buttercup's jaw dropped as Butch smashed the taller figure into the brick wall, grinning hysterically as he kept the gun pressed against his forehead.

 _Holy shit_

"So tell me, what the hell where you guys saying about blowing our brains out?" Butch kneed the guy in his gut for good measure

By now, Bubbles had gone ahead to grip onto her sister's arm, alarmed. Buttercup grabbed her phone, fumbling with unlocking and dialling 911 as she continued to watch the scene unfold.

"Yeah" Boomer chirped, cornering the short one with his stolen gun, amused as he pressed it right under his chin "What's the matter guys?" he pouted, urging them for an answer and Butch cackled

"What did I say about this being some day? Oi, Boom. Brick's not here so technically he can't get mad" the raven haired teen spoke, excited "What do you say we throw them six feet under?" he purred towards the figure he had cornered

"I heard blown out brains looks like raw chicken fat" Boomer suddenly spoke, thoughtful and Butch felt his leg twitch in anticipation

"We need to fucking test that theory. Like right now"

It was pretty hard to tell what the guy's expression was behind the mask. But Butch was willing to bet his entire family's savings account that the asshole was shitting himself with the way his eyes had doubled in size.

"Actually, as much as I want to" the blonde started, ripping off the mask and staring into Lil Arturo's eyes, Butch following to reveal Grubber "I just really want to know what the Gangreen gang are doing back up in our turf"

 _(I ain't never had nobody do it better but oh no._

 _You're bad, really bad but boy I'm loco)_

* * *

 **A/N: You guys are crazy, I'm hella overwhelmed by the reviews.**

 **LOL I LOVE YOU ALL THANKS FOR NOTICING ME AND I'M SOSOSOSO SORRY ABOUT MY LATE UPDATE!**

 **STFUSAM:** **Bless you and your smarts LOL. Yeah, the booze belongs to the ruffs c: Thanks for the review!**

 **pinksakura271:** **BLESS YOU GIRL. Ah the reason why the number came up as unknown on Buttercup's phone was because Blossy was using Brick's phone since her battery was far too low to last a phone call!**

 **Yeah, I'm quite the book hoarder myself to be honest. They're far too important and Blossom wouldn't dare risk ruining her books by using them as a weapon. I'm so glad you enjoyed all the scenes!**

 **Regarding Bubbles's state, I wouldn't necessarily call her flat out drunk in that chapter, she was tipsy and woozy at best, giving the perfect opportunity for flashbacks and her disoriented state.**

 **519:** **I know right? Poor Butch though LOL. Thanks for the review, cutie!**

 **Guest 1:** **YAS GURL I'M TOTALLY A BLINK LOL. I didn't think anyone would notice tbh, four gold stars to you. Thanks so much for the review!**

 **HaLinh:** **Yeah, that was definitely a tense reunion lol. Bless you for the review**

 **Leeful:** **BOI I'LL TOTALLY PAINT YOUR NAILS LMAO! Yeah, you'd be that one crazy ass hoe to beat the poor dude up. Bless Daniel for having to deal with your bs. Gurl, I'll come at you with a pair of chanclas if I don't see no updates on Misfortune soon.**

 **I NEED CHAPTER TEN. THE WAY YOU MAKE THE BLUES INTERACT HAS ME SCREAMING!**

 **BLESS YOUR HOE ASS FOR REVIEWING THOUGH. COME TO LONDON SO I CAN DYE YOUR HAIR FOR YOU!**

 **Ti:** **OHMYGOD GURL I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SAVED MY CHAPTER TO READ ON YOUR FLIGHT! I'm crying you're so adorable.**

 **Regarding your review, yeah I wanted everyone to have some sort of connection to one another. Like yeah, I'm 1000% all for the blues, reds and greens but I have a soft spot for the six of them to work well as friends.**

 **It's been a while since the greens have actually seen each other, but yeah I'm curious to see what goes done between those three too c; Mitch is pretty chill though, but who knows? Maybe he'll turn out to be an asshole. On the other hand he's known Butters and her sisters since their days at Pokeyoaks. With the Ruffs gone for so long he probably knows them even better now.**

 **I'm probably being biased regarding the blues. They've been my favourite since forever LOL but no, Boomer's impulsive actions aren't really that serious in the end. I'll totally try my best to continue writing these long chapters! They're kinda my preferred type of length to read so why not write them?**

 **I totally have a tumblr! The link's on my profile and I'll absolutely love to continue talking to you on there! Thanks so much for the review!**

 **Brokenwaterx:** **YOU'RE SO SWEET AHHH! Thanks so much! I love writing about interactions between the entire group as a whole because c'mon, they've all got such different personalities and it's so fun to imagine how they'd all act amongst each other, not just as the original pairings but as friends with each other.**

 **Ah, have no fear lovely, I assure you that Mitch has his reasons for not disclosing that information. But he's also pretty dense LOL. It'll all be revealed eventually, I promise.**

 **LMAO THANKS FOR LOVING THE SCENES WITH THE BLUES. Dude, ramble all you want I'm all here for it.**

 **THANKS FOR REVIEWING!**

 **Star-S2002:** **I'm so glad that you're enjoying my story! And god bless you for taking the time to review!**

 **Crashdownbabe:** **LMAO BC 100% NOT HAVING IT WITH BUTCH. Thanks so much for your review! LOL everyone seems to hate Mitch, the poor dude.**

 **Ash141:** **GURL YOU'RE SPECTACULAR! I'm thrilled you adore their friendship with each other as much as I do! OMG THANKS I WAS ACTUALLY SO CLUELESS ON HOW TO GO ABOUT WITH THE REDS LMAO! Bless your heart. Thanks so much for enjoying my story enough to review!**

 **Rara Erza Heartfilia:** **Your username makes me so happy LOL. I love Fairy Tail so much! THANKS FOR LOVING MY STORY CUTIE!**

 **Guest 2:** **Will do captain! Thanks for the review!**

 **THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE WHO FAVOURITED AND FOLLOWED!**

 **Till next time my lovelies!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This might be a little shorter than the last chapters, I'm sorry Lololol the next one will be long, I promise. I was too busy crying oceans over** **Leeful** **'s ppg fic** **Misfortune** **. She takes her sweet ass time with the updates but in all honesty it's worth it and the story has such a good plot going on (it's also pure comedy gold) go check that shit out.**

 **I guess this is sort of a filler? But at the same time it is important to the story itself lmao**

 **Enjoy**

 **Oh, and despite the boys calling Mojo a 'monkey' he's really not lol. I assure you that he's human, it's just their nickname for him**

* * *

 _Sunday March 3_ _th_ _2013_

 _(No one's heroic. Life's supposed to be precious?_

 _Then give a shit about mine)_

"I hate this freaking subject" Buttercup grumbled, getting up to grab her calculator out of her school bag

Bubbles smiled, pulling out a fresh batch of cookies from the oven with her mitts before leaving them onto the island to cool down "What're you doing?" she pulled the gloves off and returned them to their place on the handle.

"Calculus" she moaned, burying the side of her face into the table in distress

"Sucks" Bubbles didn't sound sympathetic at all and the raven haired sister narrowed her eyes at the blonde

"Where's Blossom? She usually helps me with this shi- stuff" She corrected, seeing the Professor stroll in the kitchen to open the refrigerator door.

"Nice save" he remarked drily, and Buttercup had the decency to smile sheepishly about it.

Shaking his head at his daughter's newly profound language he poured himself a glass of juice "Honestly Buttercup, you've only just hit your teenage years and you're already going through your rebellious phase"

Bubbles snorted in the background "It's not really a phase at this point Professor, it's pretty much etched into her DNA" Buttercup threw her a look and Bubbles smiled, skipping over to peck her father on the cheek "But morning Dad"

The Professor sighed "Morning sweetie" he then gave the two a look over, a frown appearing on his features

"What's wrong Professor?" Buttercup blinked. Tapping her pencil against the table, eager for any excuse to not do her homework

"Nothing really hon, we're just facing a rough patch at work" he sighed tiredly

Bubbles frowned, raising her gaze "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, do we need to beat someone up?" Buttercup asked and the Professor laughed, reaching over to ruffle her hair

"Nah, we're good. Thanks for the consideration though Buttercup"

"Anytime dad" she smirked and Bubbles giggled

The Professor smiled softly towards the two and Bubbles raised an eyebrow towards him "You sure that's all on your mind Professor?"

"It's just—it's just you girls have grown up so fast"

Walking in, Blossom raised an eyebrow "What's this about growing up?" she eyed the cookies on the counter, reaching out to grab one but Buttercup smacked her hand away

"You girls. Becoming teenagers, going through rebellious stages" He pouted "I don't like it. You all should have stopped growing after Pokeyoaks"

Bubbles was the first to laugh, pulling her gaze away from Buttercup's unfished exercise book "Oh Professor, that's not how human autonomy works"

The redhead flashed a sour look towards her sister, nursing her hand and Buttercup just stared

"You're awful in the kitchen. The last time you touched something our microwave caught on fire. Oh, and they're still too hot to touch"

Blossom rolled her eyes before returning her attention back towards their father

"Professor, we'll always be your little girls"

He heaved another sigh "I know, darling" he then paused "Wait where are you going?"

"Me?" the redhead blinked "I'm going to the Library with Brick"

His face hardened immediately "That reminds me. No boyfriends until you've all graduated-"

Bubbles perked up "Oh, that's not so bad we're graduating middle school this year—"

"—graduated from university" The Professor said solemnly. Immediately, Buttercup's jaw dropped as Blossom's face flushed in embarrassment.

The blonde teenager just snorted, making the icing for the cookies she'd made with Buttercup and began grabbing the food colouring.

"W-Wha-?! I wasn't going to date Brick!" Blossom spluttered, offended

Buttercup snorted again, loudly "Yeah, okay red" Blossom flashed her a flustered glare

Bubbles just smiled innocently "Okay Professor!"

The Professor nodded approvingly towards his blonde daughter, then turned towards his other two bickering ones with a stern expression "I mean it girls"

The redhead was speechless, cheeks flushing as she opened and closed her mouth. Not knowing how to respond to such blasphemy

"Professor that seems pretty extreme" Buttercup said bluntly "If you do that then that rebellious teen phase you're dreading? Yeah, that'll come a lot faster than you'd think" the Professor's jaw dropped and she shrugged

"Just saying"

At that, their father's composure crumbled as he went back to pouting "But it's not fair! You're all my precious babies!"

"We'll always be your precious babies" Bubbles giggled, "But don't you want us to be happy?"

"I do" he sighed, taking a seat next to Buttercup by the kitchen table, who let out a sound similar to a squeal, shielding her work from him

Blossom grabbed her coat "So?" she urged

"So, the Professor will let us date in high school. Right?" Buttercup asked, raising an eyebrow to their father who just sulked

"I still say you should wait until you graduate college"

Bubbles snorted, putting her icing into the bags provided before grabbing the nozzle "I don't think Blossom can wait that long Dad"

The redhead gawked "I'm right here!"

Smirking, Buttercup glanced at her sister "We know"

"It's not like we're all going to magically start dating as soon as we start high school, dad" Bubbles waved off,

"But when it comes to Blossom on the other hand…" she smirked as she finished preparing the icing.

"Just what are you implying?" the redhead asked, eyes narrowed

"That you're totally going to become the centre of attention when we get to high school" Buttercup said bluntly, snapping off a piece of cookie after deeming it was cool enough and Bubbles giggled

"Yeah Blossy, you're really pretty"

Nodding approvingly towards Bubbles as she took a bite of the treat, she then redirected her attention "Though, maybe it'll take a while" Buttercup blinked "You know, after you find some fashion sense—"

"—and stopped being so overly competitive all the time" Bubbles added as an afterthought before suddenly beaming at Buttercup's approval and began icing a cookie.

The professor balked at the conversation, before turning back towards the ginger haired teen "Blossom, sweetie. Keep doing everything that you're doing if it drives those hormonal little shi—"

"—OKAY" she interrupted "I seriously cannot believe you people" Blossom snapped with heated cheeks "I can't deal with any of you anymore. I'm leaving!" huffing, Blossom grabbed her bag and made sure to grab a cookie on her way out.

The professor blinked "Don't stay out too late!" he then started making his way back down towards his lab in the basement

"I won't!"

It was then Buttercup groaned into her math book "Wait—hey Blossom!"

The sound of the front door shutting was her reply and the dark haired teen gawked in the direction Blossom had just left in

"The audacity"

Bubbles snorted, amused "What's up?"

"I can't do this" she gestured towards the table with all her worksheets spread out and got out of her chair

"You should've asked Blossom if you could tag along" the blonde hummed as she iced another row of cookies

Buttercup rolled her eyes "She left literally when I was about to ask"

"It's a public library Buttercup" The blonde said once she finished icing her treats "Just pack your stuff up and go"

"I don't know what she's working on"

"So? I'll come too, I need to work on my biology paper anyway. Just give me a few minutes to get my things" Bubbles went ahead and washed her hands before grabbing some paper towels and heading back into the living room and towards the stairs

A snort was heard from the raven haired teen "Take your time, it's not like my math problems are going anywhere"

* * *

"I don't get it" Butch scrunches up his nose in confusion and Blossom groans

 _He really doesn't_

"Butch," she starts, exasperated "its math, not rocket science"

 _That's pretty much the same thing_ Butch stared blankly

Blossom Utonium has no idea how she got coaxed into tutoring Butch basic algebra, but she figures a certain pair of ruby eyes had something to do with it.

In all honestly, she wants to choke the green eyed boy in front of her, because great lord Jesus math was not this hard, but she knows she won't.

Blossom Utonium is not a fucking quitter

So she picks up her pencil and scoots closer towards the rowdy preteen "Alright Butch, let's break this down"

Boomer snorts, amusement swarming in his dark orbs as he untwisted the cap from his water bottle

"—and you" she turned her attention towards the blond, a disapproving frown on her features "What're you working on?"

The blond blinks, taken aback he then gestured towards his books that were sprawled open, along with his notebook filled with messy notes from class "Uh, my history essay on colonization"

"Stay woke Boom" Butch said, stuffing his face full of potato chips and pointing the blunt end of his pencil at his brother

The redhead felt her lips twitch upwards and she grabbed some napkins from her bag "Don't make a mess, we're in a public library."

"He's the 'baron of berserk'" Brick snorted, appearing with three water bottles in hand "He's a walking mess" he smirked, taking his seat besides where Blossom had been before she had moved.

Butch narrowed his eyes "You bought water? Bitch, where's my Capri-sun at?"

He was promptly smacked with her ruler "Language!"

Brick glared "Take what you can get"

The blond groaned "This is the worst study session ever. I would've been able to concentrate more if I just hung out with Buttercup or Bubbles" He frowned "I only came because I knew the reds were a killer combination when it came to this studying shit"

"Then go hang out with them" Blossom blinked "You should've known Butch needed help with is algebra"

"Dude, its algebra" Boomer snorted "Who the hell flunks at algebra?" he laughed and immediately earned himself a smack with Blossom's wooden ruler, causing the teen to yelp

"Don't be rude! I seem to remember you not understanding your physics worksheet the other day" Blossom glared and Boomer pouted, rubbing his sore arm

Butch grinned triumphantly "Yeah, Boomer. You were saying?"

"Oh, you can go suck my dick Butch"

"What, you're not going to take me out to dinner first?"

Blossom's jaw dropped at the sheer absurdity of their conversation, her face heating up indignantly causing Brick to put down his pen and sigh, suddenly exhausted

"Boys, shut the hell up" he deadpanned, more for the sake of stopping Blossom from having a stroke at an early age, causing both brothers to snap their heads towards him, pouting

"Wow, you guys seem to be super productive" Buttercup deadpanned and all four heads perked up at the voice.

Automatically, Boomer scooted over, allowing more space for both girls to sit "What're you guys doing here?"

"I'm getting nowhere with my calculus and Bubbles needed to do her paper on whatever" she took a seat besides the blond as Bubbles came over to sit beside her.

"Biology, Buttercup" She rolled her eyes, exasperated before smiling and holding a brown paper bag in her hand "We brought snacks!"

"Sweet!" Butch's expression immediately lit up in excitement as he reached out towards the bag and Blossom's eyes narrowed as she smacked his hand away

"Not until you figure out how to solve this!"

He gawked "Lady, are you for real right now?!"

Brick smirked "Guess you wish you paid attention in class, huh Butch?"

"Ya'll can go fuck yourselves" Butch muttered, pouting and going back to his math homework

Frowning, the blonde looked over Brick's figure

"What?" he asked, glancing up from his note taking, annoyed

"Your jacket" she started, already getting out of her seat and towards him despite only having been seated for a few seconds

"What about it?" he moved away

"It's ripped" her eyebrows furrowed, gently grabbing a hold of his arm before he could lean away further and lifted it ninety degrees in order not to strain it too much and examining the rip where his armpit was

Irritated, Brick quickly swooped his arm down and Buttercup rolled her eyes

"Dude, you've had that jacket for so long, I'm surprised it only gave out now"

Blossom didn't bat an eye and scribbled an equation down onto Butch's notebook for him to answer "It seemed pretty vintage to begin with" she brought her gaze up towards Brick

"It's still winter though, I'm pretty sure you can find one in a similar style for pretty cheap"

"We can all go shopping!" Bubbles clapped excitedly in her chair, eyes bright

Brick rolled his eyes, completely ready to turn the lights in her eyes off— _they were way too fucking bright_ , _Jesus Christ_ "I don't need this. It's just a small rip"

"By small, are you comparing it to your di—"

A fist to Butch's face had him shut his mouth

Sighing, Blossom turned towards her dark haired sister "Buttercup, come sit closer so I can help you with your work too"

"I'm doing calculus, not algebra" Buttercup blinked but scooted closer towards her sister and Butch anyway

"Let me see what you've done so far" Brick reached over, seeming eager and grabbed her exercise book without waiting for an answer and Blossom felt the corners of her mouth twitch upwards at the action

Bubbles pulled out her science text books and pencil case from her bag

"Bio?" Boomer asked, yawning with his head against the desk

"Nah, English literature" she smirked and the blond rolled his eyes

"Ha, ha" he remarked drily before pulling out his own biology notes causing Bubbles to raise an eyebrow

"I thought you were doing your history report"

"It can wait" he waved off, pulling out a notebook and Buttercup snorted towards the pair but didn't say anything

* * *

"This worked out pretty well" Blossom mused, highlighting quotes for her English essay with an orange highlighter

Brick stared blankly at her, the two dark haired teens who were now finally more than half way through their homework and then focused his attention back onto her, immediately dismissive

"Oh yeah" he snorted, pulling out his binder to sort out his own English notes "It only took an hour or two" he said drily

"Well to be frank, with their attention spans I assumed it would take much longer" She admitted and he smirked, putting some papers together into one punch pocket

"Touché, Utonium"

She smiles nervously, braces shining in the light and her ears suddenly felt far too warm. Brick idly wonders what her hair would look like down.

It's a pretty lame thought, so he knows that hell would freeze over before he ever voices it

"Hey losers" Princess smiles, it's on the verge of a sneer and the smile doesn't reach her eyes. Everyone takes a moment to just pause

 _Then there's this bitch_ Brick finds himself sharing a look with Buttercup who was now seated on the other end of the table with Butch

"…Hey Princess" Blossom says, warily and Buttercup's already sitting up with her chin in the palm of her hand

"What do you want" she says bluntly and Blossom shoots her sister a warning glare

 _Play nice_

Brick hides a smirk behind his fist, seated in a similar position to the spunky teen _so fucking predictable_

Leadership skills came to Blossom so naturally that Buttercup was already simmering down and Brick didn't know if his amusement showed

Princess's face curls "Buttercup. Always such a pleasure" she rolls her dark eyes, not bothering to hide her distaste

Buttercup can feel her own eyes wanting to roll to the back of her head and Princess gives the table a look over

Her mask is suddenly back as she perks up when her gaze lands on the two brothers "Boys" she greets

Butch raises his hand in a half assed response "What's up you poofy—"

"You talk like a dumbass, Butch" Brick interrupts automatically because quite frankly, there is no way in hell he's going to be able to handle the migraine that would ensure if Princess and Butch both went at it.

That would just encourage Buttercup to join in and then Blossom would be screeching about language—just no

He then turns his attention back towards the curly haired girl ignoring how Butch is probably muttering under his breath

"So what do you want?" he repeats Buttercup's question

Her eye twitches before a smirk appears "I haven't officially announced it yet, but since I'm a kind-hearted person, I'll just grace you all with the news with my own lips"

 _Ah. So even Princess Morbucks had limits before showing her true colours_

Brick kind of wonders how she gets away with being such a brat. She probably doesn't even realise the extent to where her privilege goes—then again, maybe she does know.

Maybe that's why she's such an insufferable bitch

Blossom looks visibly uncomfortable with just how someone could be so unbelievable and Brick doesn't know whether to be entertained or annoyed

"I'm switching schools" she sighs, as if the news she was conveying was a first world problem

Everyone gawks

"…oh my god" Buttercup says, dropping her pencil

"Seriously?" even Blossom was spluttering at the news, innocent eyes wide in disbelief

"No fucking way" Butch says and Brick mentally counts down

"Language!" Blossom doesn't miss a beat and smacks Butch with her ruler

Feeling annoyed with the sudden lack of devotion, Princess coughs rather loudly and Brick can't help but wonder how was it possible for someone to not be able to handle not being the centre of attention for more than ten seconds?

Now openly sneering and dropping the whole act all together Princess continues as if she hadn't been interrupted "Yes, I'm afraid it's true"

From the corner of his eye, Brick can see Butch giving Buttercup and Blossom a look of 'Is this chick for real?' and even he can't help but hold back an amused smile

"I've talked to Daddy and he's decided that studying here in such a dingy town like Townsville will not do"

Buttercup blinks, unable to hide her glee "So you're not only switching schools, but you're moving out on town too?"

Princess flips her hair back, apparently not noticing the dark haired girl's sudden optimistic state "I'm going to be studying abroad for the next few years with my Mother" she says and then suddenly she's eyeing the entire table expectantly

"In Italy"

"Holy shit" Butch says, eyes bright and Brick finds himself scooting far, far away. "This is the best news I've heard all day"

Princess balks, jaw dropping "W-What?!" he voice suddenly shrill and Brick's already glaring at Butch for his absolute lack in subtlety

"—what he means" Blossom's quick to cut in, shooting Butch a harsh glare of 'shut the hell up' before turning back to a gawking Princess

"—is that he's delighted, along with us that you're going to be studying abroad!"

Brick snorts behind his blinder as he's closing it and returning it into his bag _Nice save, Red_

"Who's studying abroad?" Bubbles asks, all smiles and sunshine as she appears with an iced donut in hand

 _Lord Jesus, she really is the joy and the laughter in the group_

Butch eyes her dessert, on the brick of drooling and she's automatically halving it for him, before finally noticing Princess in all her poofy glory only after handing half of her treat towards the dark haired boy.

"I am" the curly red head announces, pointing her nose up high as she focuses her attention onto the newcomer "I'm going to be studying in a private school in Italy"

Bubbles doesn't even have to fake her kindness, she lights up immediately "Oh my gosh, no way!"

Having found someone who was finally delivering the proper response, Brick can literally see Princess's head inflate three times its size as an aura of smugness appears around her

 _Oh for fucks sake he really should've stayed at home_

"Yes, it's apparent that I have to apologise"

"Apologise?" Blossom asks, furrowing her eyebrows and perking up

Princess nods, looking like a doctor having to tell a family absolutely dreadful news "Well of course," she sighs once again and Brick thanks his lucky stars that Butch was seemingly occupied with his donut, and consequently, Buttercup seemed adamant on sharing his half

 _Ten points for Hufflepuff_ he glances towards Bubbles almost smirking

Said blonde tilts her head, silently edging the girl with untameable hair to go on

"After all" Princess starts, smirking "How are you all ever going to survive being able to come to this school knowing that I won't be here to make your peasant lives better"

Blossom's eye twitches, and Brick realises that she's at her breaking point with the bitch but Bubbles steps in immediately

"I'm sure we'll find a way"

Princess folds her arms, confidence radiating off of her "I doubt it"

"Do you even speak Italian?" he suddenly voices, because honestly, with the way she was talking, she was acting as if she'd lived there her whole life

All eyes turn to his direction and Brick just raises an eyebrow challengingly at her "Well, do you?" he digs deeper

"W-Well of course!" Princess scoffs, cheeks heating up in embarrassment "I'm half Italian and half French! It's only natural I know them both"

Bubbles lights up instantly and this time, Brick openly smirks

"You are?! How come you never told me! I can speak them both too!" the blonde squeals in delight

Princess pales

 _Bingo bitch_

"…You do?" Princess balks

"Of course silly! We could have a conversation in Italian if you'd like?"

She sniffs "No thank you" Brick almost snorts "It wouldn't be fair to everyone else seated….uh do you really speak both of the languages?" she asks, voice suddenly small

"Oh yeah," Buttercup suddenly pipes in, lips smeared with pink icing as she focused on cleaning them "Bubbles speaks like….five languages?" she turns towards both of her sisters for confirmation

"F-Five?!" Princess echoes, aghast

Bubbles blinks, cheeks flushed from all the attention "Uh English, duh. Spanish, Italian, Japanese, French, I've sort of picked up German and I'm learning Korean with Blossom"

Butch whistles "Well that freaking explains, a lot"

Buttercup nods, suddenly realising just why Brick had brought up languages and a smile graces on her features

It takes everything in him to not sigh like a little bitch at the notion

He almost smacks himself

"Yeah, I speak Mandarin, French and I'm learning Korean and German" She seems embarrassed too and Brick can't even fathom why

"That's impressive" he voices towards her because damn and she smiles shyly

Bubbles perks up "Do you think I should pick up German? I only know some basic phrases right now"

"No" the entire group, including Princess all said collectively

Brick can literally see Princess's entire composure crumble before she turns to Buttercup "What about you?" she asks, her tone laced with some desperation

"Me?" Buttercup blinks "I'm taking Japanese but that's pretty much it"

Butch turns towards her suddenly, punching her shoulder "Bitch no way! Props dude, I can barely speak English and that's like my mother tongue"

"Okay but are you fluent?" the curly haired teen urges on

"She is!" Bubbles nods excitedly and wraps both her arms around her sister's shoulders in a hug "She got to sit the exams early for AP Japanese because she's pretty much got it down as a second language!"

Buttercup rolls her eyes at all the sudden attention but doesn't pry the blonde away "Okay, yeah but it's not that big of a deal"

Smirking, Blossom urges her math book closer towards her sister "It is considering it's a miracle you were even motivated to learn something"

She flashes Blossom a glare and Brick finds his eyebrows raising towards his hairline in mild respect towards the three. Princess deflates instantly.

Feeling ridiculously stupid, Princess turns towards the group in annoyance

"Where's Boomer" she suddenly snaps, impatient and embarrassed

"He went to get his laptop" Butch follows his dark haired companion and sits up, suddenly intrigued "Why?"

Brick wonders just why he didn't join him. It would've spared his ears from having to listen to this bullshit

She huffs "I'm throwing a party to give everyone a chance to cry over me leaving so that you all can have the privilege of being in my presence one last time before I leave"

"And you need Boomer because…?" Blossom raises an eyebrow

"He's the only one in this entire school who knows how to handle like almost any instrument" Princess says, as if she was talking to a child

 _Oh hell_ Brick wants to bang his head against the table, he's already pieced together exactly what she wants and from the looks of it, Buttercup has too with the way she's openly staring with eyes the size of dinner plates

"I want him and his band to play at my party"

Everyone seems half stunned and half not really because it's Boomer

Butch is the first to open his mouth "Are you going to pay them?" he asks bluntly and Buttercup snorts

Princess waves her hand "Of course"

"But why him?" Bubbles says, staring

"What do you mean 'why him'? I literally just gave you a reason like five fucking seconds ago—"

"No" the blonde shakes his head "Princess your filthy rich. Your earrings probably cost more than everything in my entire room"

Princess smiles, as if Bubbles had just given her a compliment and Brick idly realises that Bubbles was definitely the only person who could tolerate Princess without blowing a fuse and vice versa.

 _Damn. Her niceness was pretty much the only thing keeping everyone in check right now from roasting this poofy bitch's ass_

"Go on..."

Blossom's already caught on "She's saying, why can't you just rent one direction or something?"

Both greens snort rather loudly and Princess blinks, genuinely looking confused "What are you talking about? I've already booked them as a part of the line-up"

… _.Bitch what the fuck_

Not even Brick can stop the look of pure bewilderment on his face while everyone else on the table absolutely loses it

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah" Princess drones on, as if what she was saying was a normal occurrence "I'm just asking for Boomer and his band for the beginning of the party. You know, when everyone's still eating caviar as a starter and it's just our school. The actual people performing won't be there till at least nine or ten"

They're all openly gawking now

 _She cannot be fucking serious_

"But I'm not sure if I should hold the concert indoors or outdoors yet when it's just Boomer's band performing. I guess it could always be a free mic for everyone" she hummed, deep in thought

 _Oh my fucking god she's serious_

"Uh…Just who is preforming exactly?" Butch asks with his hand raised

"Here" she hands out fliers

Fucking flies containing information on the line-up to a going away party

 _Bitch what the fuck do her birthday parties look like?!_

"Do a free mic indoors!" Bubbles suddenly says, enthusiastic "Like yeah, let Boomer and the guys preform but if we're just warming up karaoke's a great way to get everyone comfortable"

Brick's still trying to process how this bitch handed him a damn flier, Bubbles needed to _stop_

Princess seems to actually be taking the blonde's words into consideration and Buttercup rolls her eyes "Don't you have like a bajillion rooms in that house of yours anyway? Does it even matter?"

The rich teen gawks, going to open her mouth to berate her but Blossom finds herself interrupting before things can get out of hand "What she means is, are you planning on keeping everyone in one place at a time?"

"What? Of course not!" Princess balks as if what Blossom had just asked was pure blasphemy before nodding towards Bubbles "I like your idea the most. I'll hold a room where everyone does karaoke and have Boomer preform indoors as a way to get everyone comfortable"

She then perks up and turns towards Blossom and Brick "You two dance right? Do you guys want a place as one of the performances?"

"Absolutely not" Brick looks insulted "I took part in dance for one semester, and even then it was waltzing" Blossom's cheeks heat up

"But you were good enough to get a place in stage coach" Princess raises an eyebrow

"Yeah, and did I join? The dance class was a part of my grade"

She scoffs "If it's about money—"

"Trust me" Brick says levelly "It's not"

"Dude it's a party" Butch suddenly says, throwing a paper aeroplane into the air before Blossom can snatch it off of him "People are gonna do whatever"

"Well that's just a given" Princess says exasperatedly "I've held parties before Butch" she rolls her eyes

Her eyes go over Buttercup, as if she wants to ask something but thinks better of it and turns away

"Anyway, if you see him give him this" Princess pulls out a gold invitation that Brick fucking swears to every deity he can see his reflection in when she hands it to him

"Tell him to call me and we can work out a price. You're all welcome to come too seeing as it is the last time you'll all ever see this beautiful face" she smirks, adjusting her handbag back onto her shoulder

"Ciao losers"

"…Bitch what the fuck" Butch voices out all of their thoughts

* * *

Brick really hates Townsville

It's a given when he's pulling off his jacket to inspect whatever stupid rip he's managed to given it

"Well that sucks" Boomer muses, lifting its sleeve to further check out the damage "You can use mine till Mojo gets a new one"

He snorts

The fuck does Boomer think this is? He doesn't do charity

"Fuck that" Butch snorts, and for once Brick agrees "Let's just bust into some store and finesse some new threads" he grins excitedly, jumping onto the couch with his shoes

…Never mind

Jesus Christ he can already feel the start of a migraine forming "Both of you, shut the fuck up with your bullshit"

Boomer rolls his eyes "Well what do you suggest genius? The tear's gotten way bigger"

"I'll just sew it close then Einstein"

"Dude just take my fucking jacket. We all know you can't take the cold for shit" Boomer glares, grabbing his own clothing item that was indeed in much better shape

"Why don't you just mind your own fucking business?" He spat

 _God it wasn't even that big of a deal_

"Newsflash dumbass, if me failing a damn pop quiz is any of your business then this" he gestures towards both of their jackets in their arms "is my business"

Brick's gaze darkens and he immediately moves forward "I am not taking your fucking jacket" he says each word slowly, his jaw tight

"What're you being such a prideful piece of shit for? You know what, fuck this. You want to freeze? Fine. Don't know why I give a shit anyway" the blond snapped, grabbing his jacket and storming back outside

For a moment it's quiet. Brick seething and shooting imaginary lasers at the door that Boomer had just walked out off and Butch staring with his jaw dropped in complete glee.

"Dude that was so funny. Props on the whole deep voice 'I am not taking your jacket" he mocked, lowering his voice and snorting "But anyway, see there's this store downtown that only has like…one security camera? We could literally throw a denim jacket or two into a rucksack and—"

Lip curling, Brick spins around to face his brother, his fist meeting Butch's jaw "Do you fucking hear anything when I talk?" He snapped, and Butch swears to every deity out there that Brick's eyes actually _glow_ red "When I say shut the hell up-" he grabbed the teen by the collar, hauling him off of the couch and onto the uncleaned floor

"I mean shut the fuck up dumbass!"

Seemingly unaffected, he rolls his murky green eyes "Alright moody" Butch mutters, getting to his feet and heading towards the kitchen

"Has anyone done any grocery shopping yet?" he calls out and Brick finds himself rubbing excessively over the dried mud marks Butch's shoes had left on the couch and dusts it onto the floor

"—Wait no, never mind. Guess the monkey hasn't been back yet" Butch says, eyes dulling and shutting the fridge door

All Butch hears is the sound of the front door slamming and he finally lets the chill he was suppressing take over and runs his fingers along the front of his throat

"Fucking crazy bastard" he murmurs, shaking his head and heading to check out the cupboards for any leftover dried food.

 _Brick was a freaking ass, at least Boomer could take a fucking joke_

His jaw drops "What the FUCK—Is that a freaking mouse?!" he screeches, launching himself across the room and grabbing whatever weapon he can find as an equally freaked out rodent scurries out of the cupboard, across the room and out of the room altogether.

Butch stands there on the kitchen counter, clutching a rolling pin as if it was his lifeline and doesn't quite comprehend what in the hell had just happened

"…..Oh to the hell no I'm staying over at Lloyd and Floyd's place tonight" he mutters, jumping down only after he has thoroughly assessed the entire kitchen from where he stood and leaves through the backyard, unwilling to use the front door in case of a surprise attack.

He doesn't even bother locking the back door, no one in the damn neighbourhood had anything worth stealing and no one was really dumb enough to bother

It's barely two streets down but he's already knocking on the twins' door

"Butch? Oh sweetheart, hello" Their mother smiles tiredly, opening the door wider for the child "I thought you were someone else" she laughs off, but he can see the relief in her brown eyes and finds himself gripping onto the receipts in his pocket

"Yeah" he grins instead "Sorry if I disappoint Mrs Floyjoydson"

He knows he doesn't. Everyone on the street knows about her boyfriend being a drug addict who had lost his damn conscious years ago.

She laughs honestly now "Of course not hon" her hand feels unbelievably gentle on his shoulder after his stepped inside and she's closed the door, leading him into the kitchen

She's acting as if _he's_ the broken one and Butch remembers why he doesn't crash at the house anymore

"I haven't seen Mr Jojo in a while" she says "Is everything okay at home?"

 _The woman cared too freaking much_

Butch thinks back to both of his brothers and shrugs, grinning "Yeah. Dad's working on some project back in his lab so he comes home pretty late. It's probably why you haven't seen him lately"

Uh, wrong

He had no idea where that idiot monkey was but Butch prayed for his sake that he actually was in his damn lab and making some dinero because his patience was at an all-time low

Automatically turning towards the stove and stirring white fluffy rice "Oh baby, you must be starving" she suddenly gasps, seeing the way his eyes linger on the food for too long

In retrospect Mojo wasn't necessarily a shitty parent. He didn't hit his kids or any of that type of bullshit.

He'd help out with homework whenever he could and paid for everything but Jesus the monkey was so fucking neglectful that it was exasperating at this point

The guy cared, sure. But he cared about his job more

"Boys! Butch is here!" she calls, directing her attention towards the second pot on the stove containing some type of curry and it's moments later that the twins come tumbling down the staircase

"Dude!" Floyd yells, grinning widely and fist bumping him "I haven't seen your ugly mug in like forever"

"Uh, I'm going to let that one slide because I'm so freaking kind" Butch says and Lloyd snorts rather loudly

"Oh yeah, you're as kind as a infuriated scorpion"

The twins snort with laughter and Butch rolls his eyes "Yeah, yeah shut up"

After Mrs Floyjoydson had managed to get the trio to set the table and take their seats, she smiles as pours the food onto their plates

"Are we seriously having curry right now" Lloyd stares at it "Mom, you do realise that Floyd's going to get the shits? Like, you've doomed us all this house is tiny"

The response he gets is a smack with a wooden spoon and a smug Floyd as he takes a bite out of his food

"Thanks Ma"

"Of course, sweetheart"

Butch takes a bite out of his curry and rice with a fork, watching the scene

 _He felt so out of place_

"Butch, would you like some veggies?" she suddenly asks and he blinks

"Uh…sure?"

She offers him a pot of steamed vegetables and he finds himself putting a few spoon fills onto his plate

"Okay so dude, have you seen the new Iron man movie yet?" Lloyd asks and Butch feels his body relax

In the back of his mind he wonders if regular family dinners always to feel this safe

It's not until after he's finished his food that Floyd suggests building a pillow fort

"What are we, nine?" Butch stares looking unimpressed before snorting "Nah, I'm just kidding. Let's do it"

The trio get up to put their dishes into the sink

"Do you guys need snacks?" Mrs Floyjoydson asks and the twins wave her off as Butch waits by the doorframe

"Nah Ma, we're good"

She nods, and Butch doesn't miss the way she glances at the clock and starts washing the dishes.

Her hands were shaking

Before he can even so much as open his mouth, he's already being hauled upstairs by the twins. "So we managed to get this play-station at this store. Its second hand but it still works pretty good"

Honestly, Butch couldn't care less as long as the thing still worked, but he doesn't get to answer, there's a loud hammering from downstairs and he turns towards the boys in question

"Dude what the hell—"

He almost shits himself when there's a loud bang. Alarmed, Butch makes his way back towards the staircase

"W-wait Butch don't-!" Floyd immediately goes to grab his friend by the arm, but he's already half way down the staircase when the twins get to him and manage to hold him in place from going further down

Butch's entire being is in a state of pure bewilderment as he watches some bulky white guy entire the house as if he freaking owned the place, making out the tattoos that went neck up and coloured his bald head.

"Robert's not here!" a voice says, desperation thick in tone and it doesn't really take a genius to figure out whose feminine voice had rang out

"Doesn't matter" the man snaps, lowering the zip to his leather jacket to cool down "You're both married aren't you? His money's your money"

She gulps, hands trembling and Butch is doing all he fucking can, not to blow up

"How much?" she asks, voice quiet and defeated

"Three hundred"

Her eyes bulge out and the woman looks like she's about to faint "T-Three hundred?!"

He shrugs "It's just business sweetheart"

Butch feels an unfathomable amount of rage sink in because who in the FUCK did this guy think he was sprouting all this nonsense?

He hasn't even realised that his feet have decided to move on their own accord down to the bottom of the staircase

Mrs Floyjoydson nods slowly, going for her purse "C-Can I…Will a check do?" she asks, voice helpless "I don't carry around that sort of money on hand"

"Afraid not sweetheart" he doesn't sound sorry at all

She pales but before any words can come out of her mouth the door opens

"Dad's here" Lloyd whispers and Butch almost jumps six feet into the air

 _What the actual FUCK, when did you get here?!_

"What the—stop what the fuck!" Mr Floyjoydson said, eyes wide as he rushed and pulled his wife into his arms and away from the intruder

Rolling his eyes, the man gives the husband an exasperated look "This is your fault to begin with Rob. Your debt's at three hundred"

"I-…I understand" he sighs, exhausted "I've got the money, just—"he heads towards the draws by the television and pulls out a thick brown envelope and hands it towards the man

"Pleasure doing business with you" The man in the leather jacket grins in delight, only after he's gotten one of his lackeys to count and confirm that the money was the right amount

Butch's face darkens

He really fucking hated Townsville.

He had no idea that he had been staring at his own future when the two men finally left and the wife burst into tears.

* * *

 **A/N: Bless ya'll for reading!**

 **This chapter was so weird to write lmao. I really wanted to get the boys perspectives out there since all we've got is the girls.**

 **THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL CONTINUE FROM WHERE WE LEFT OFF WITH THE GANGGREEN GANG I PROMISE AND EVERYTHING!**

 **Ash141:** **THANKS FOR LOVING MY WORK! I hope that this chapter is able to provide you with some peace with how the boys were. There's still a lot to come haha. Yeah, our poor Blossy being paired with such a cold ass like Brick. But who knows, maybe he'll come around.**

 **Pinksakura271:** **Girl of course! You took the time to give me such a sweet review so of course I'll give you the proper response! Oh honey, I wasn't talking about how dark this story was. I mean, I don't really consider it dark to begin with but who knows? I meant more to do with how the further the story goes, the more the pairs will probably (most fucking definitely) end up getting together and doing the shameshame –COUGH COUGH-.**

 **Thanks so much for enjoying all those scenes! I'm glad you found Mitch to be funny. Brick's definitely still got the leadership skills despite not being supervillains in this au. I guess it's just a given.**

 **Regarding to how Bubbles talked about the two septate bottles of shampoo and conditioner, it's because using separate bottles of each is supposedly supposed to be healthier for your hair! Sorry if I offended you or anything! And about Boomer's statement about hating the town, I hope this gives you some sort of insight on why the boys didn't like Townsville!**

 **And Hell yeah Brick isn't going to be happy about the Gangreen gang showing up to cause trouble. Guess we'll have to wait and see what he does c;**

 **Ti:** **YOU'RE THE SWEETEST HONESTLY LOL. Thank you so much for enjoying my story! Also, regarding the tumblr thing, yeah I noticed that too. The link for it worked for the first few days but I have no idea as to why it stopped.**

 **My username is 'Wxnderwell' haha. So not that different from my current username. I think I follow you! Be prepared though cause right now it's just me crying over Infinity war.**

 **GIRL NO, YOU REALLY ARE ADORABLE LOL You're honestly a blessing**

 **Thank you for enjoying all their friendships and stuff! I really am determined to have them all have a good relationship with one another instead of just focussing on the pairings.**

 **LMAO. Mitch is a blessing lowkey. I've turned him into the comic relief unintentionally.**

 **Yes, Butch can be somewhat of a gentleman for handing Butters his jacket. Honestly I think he did it purely because he didn't want her to freeze her ass off but ofc he's infatuated with her ass. Don't know if he's possessive just yet c;**

 **Thanks for loving the flashbacks! I'm trying to give a perspective of what everyone was like before and now. Though, the differences aren't that clear just yet lmao. It'll show soon though, I promise.**

 **Honestly, I love seeing your long reviews so don't worry about it! Just knowing that you're taking the time to write them is absolutely amazing and I love you like crazy for that!**

 **Thank you so much for your patience! It's such a relief hearing that you're willing to wait! I'll literally message you as soon as I finish updating!**

 **Leeful:** **Great, now I gotta improve Brick's asshole personality by like a thousand so that he's your bias again. OFC I'M FROM THE UK. DID YOU THINK THAT I'VE BEEN FAKING MY ACCENT THIS ENTIRE TIME LMAOOOOOO. Nah but bless, chapter three was the longest thing to write so I'm glad your ass liked it.**

 **Nah gurl you know I'm forever a caramel frappe girl. I'm loyal af—okay maybe not but shh. I'm relatively loyal. If we had a mini fanfiction date it's gotta be at the Starbucks here so that I can feed you the damn food there seeing as yours doesn't serve any food. (That shit's hella wack btw). You bet your ass we'll talk about BTS! Namjoon is Daddy af**

 **UPDATE MISFORTUNE YOU EGG KAY THANKS LOVE YOU BYE!**

 **519:** **I'm glad that you liked it! Dude me too! I love Buttercup and Boom as like a broship LMAO I think that they'd get along as friends the most out of everyone tbh. Boomer's super laid back and Buttercup is a riot so they'd balance each other out. The same goes for Bubbles and Butch. Honestly, I just like all the multicolour friendships LOL. Thanks for the review, love!**

 **Crashdownbabe:** **LMAO WE'RE TWINNING it's like 2:39 am right now as I'm writing this. I'm really glad that you liked chapter three but I'm afraid that I'll be continuing all of that drama in the next chapter!**

 **Honestly, I wanted to write Buttercup as the one helping take part in the fight but this is kind of out of territory for her. This isn't the canon au so there's absolutely no superpowers involved. A fist fight? Yeah she'd probably kick ass but there were guns and she ain't about to die just yet. Who knows though, she might square up lmao.**

 **Tbh yes, those boys are precious babies that we must protect. I'M GLAD YOU LOVE THE GREENS CAUSE ME TOO SIS LMAOOO. I live for their interactions even though the blues are my favourite pairing. Thank you so much for the review darling!**

 **Guest:** **I love and appreciate you, thank you so much for the review!**

 **Star-S2002:** **THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ENJOYING THE CHAPTER! I really wanted to try and show just how different the characters are from each other! Nah girl, you're definitely onto something with Butch's jealousy. I'm glad someone noticed LMAOOOO! Thanks for liking the progress! I wasn't sure if I was making it go too fast or what.**

 **YEAH LMAO RIP TO MITCH'S DOOR LOL. I'll get the reds progressing soon don't you worry! Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

 **Juniper Writer:** **THANK YOU DARLING OHMYGOD! I'm glad you like it! Thank you so much for frequently checking up on this story, that's honestly so sweet!**

 **Thanks for the review!**

 **Lavab1669:** **YAAA I'M GLAD YOU LIKED IT LOVE! Thanks so much for loving it! And oh look at that, your wish came true c: I've revealed their past! Hope you liked it!**

 **ItsMeLana:** **THANKS LMAO! Honestly yeah, but he's our fav lil psycho. I love it too lmao tbh. THANKS FOR REVIEWING!**

 **Supersweetluvbug:** **BLESS YOU OHMYGOD! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so far! Honestly, it's really awesome that you loved it enough to not want to put it down. I'm sorry you're going to have to wait until the next chapter to find out about what happens with the GGG and ruffs c; Hint-hint The Professor and Dexter will return in chapter five.**

 **Bubbles is sort of at a loss with Boomer to be honest. I think after witnessing her middle school crush murder someone she's reeling from him at this point.**

 **Thanks for sticking by cutie!**

 **Carriedreamer:** **OHMYGOD THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm so glad that you feel that way honestly. If I'm being honest, my friend 'Leeful' on here got me into the idea of doing a gang/mafia type story and this was born.**

 **Girl its fine! Even if you didn't review I'm still glad there are people out there who enjoy my work! I'm so happy you like it! Don't worry, I'll have more reds soon c; I'm glad they made you laugh!**

 **THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING DARLING!**

 **BlackRosesKira:** **THANK YOU FOR READING AND LOVING MY STORY OH MY GOSH! Honestly, I have like no idea where the motivation even comes from. I suppose after writing out and planning the story chapter by chapter on my phone and writing physical copies in notebooks get me excited to actually write these chapters.**

 **It's weird I don't know if I was any help lmao I'm sorry for being so useless and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Omg. I've updated after like over a month. I'm sorry Lololol I don't know why I'm like this. I GENUINELY HAVE NO IDEA WHERE ALL MY MOTIVATION WENT I'M SORRY LMAO**

 **Also fanfiction got rid of my line breaker thingys so Idk if they're showing up lololol -cries-**

* * *

 _(I see the issue._

 _I feel your chest but I can't find your heart)_

 _Saturday 7:56pm_

"You have got to be kidding me right now" Bubbles deadpanned, lips drawn into a tight line as she gripped the bars from inside the cell in absolute disbelief

"You're telling me, what the shit is this?!" Buttercup exclaimed, marching besides her sister and also reaching out to grip onto the bars, enraged as she glared at the policeman standing guard

"We did nothing wrong! What the fuck are you imprisoning us for?! I demand that you read us our rights!"

Butch broke out into laughter, enjoying the look on the guard's face as he stared at the raven-haired teen in surprise.

"You heard the lady, read us our rights!" he got up, snorting and standing in between the two sisters

Boomer remained undisturbed by their current situation as he stayed laying down on the bench facing the ceiling

"Butch, shut the fuck up"

Said teen shot him a sour look "Stop bitching and let me live my life"

"Then stop being someone to bitch about"

"Fuck off" Butch snorted and flipped his brother off

Boomer rolled his eyes, imagining what life would be like as an only child and the guard sighed "Ma'am, like I said, we can't let you four out until your legal guardians show up"

"But the Professor isn't going to be back until at least nine—or ten if he gets side-tracked" Bubbles frowned, turning to look at her sister for confirmation and Buttercup gawked

"Oh my god he's coming back at ten"

Buttercup glowered at the guard "This is fucked up, we're minors!"

"Exactly why your guardians need to be here for you to be released, Miss Utonium" the guard remarked drily

Buttercup felt her eye twitch "We know the mayor" she said suddenly "I'll get him to fire your ass so fast if you don't let us out right now"

A loud snort was heard and she span around to see Boomer snickering and sitting up and planting his feet on the ground

"I'm sure you will miss Utonium" he took a seat at his desk and began flipping through his paperwork

Her jaw dropped and Butch cackled

"Butch, shut the hell up!" she glowered

His lip curled, suddenly invading her space as he bent down into her face "why don't you make me, princess?"

Bubbles stared at the guard, scooting away from the pair suddenly exhausted and her grip on the bars seemed to loosen "Can you at least put me in a separate cell please?"

* * *

 _Saturday 5:43pm_

The back door was slammed open and all hell broke loose

Screaming, Bubbles found herself ducking down with her hands on her ears in absolute terror, Buttercup yanking her sister behind the van to shield themselves from the bullets

 _No way_

Once the leader had swung open the door, he open fired immediately after seeing the absolute carnage.

 _No fucking way was this happening to them_

Butch cackled, throwing one of the members over his shoulder and swinging him into the leader.

Buttercup almost got out of hiding to throw a damn brick in his face because just what in the actual fuck was so funny about this goddamn situation?!

 _Why the hell was this even happening to them?!_

"If the police don't get here soon I swear to god I'm going to haunt every of these fuckers from the afterlife and drive them to kill themselves" she muttered darkly before yelping a range of profanities when a knocked out member of the Gangreen gang was hurled towards them and slammed against the side of the van they were occupying.

Bubbles had pulled her raging sister away from being crushed rather harshly and the raven haired teen was absolutely done as she watched the guy who was thrown in her direction twitch from the ground

"For his sake, he better stay down" Bubbles suddenly says, fear replaced by annoyance momentarily.

Crawling to the edge of the van, Buttercup angled her head in order to see just what the fuck was happening

"We really should be running you know" she hears Bubbles say besides her

"We should" she voices her agreement, but instead they're both trying to watch the madness without getting their heads blown up—okay that was an exaggeration.

 _We are so getting caught in the gunfire_ Bubbles winced as she watched their fellow duo in blue and green go against—who the hell were these people called again?

Bubbles finds her mind going to a complete blank when there's a looming figure behind her and she's suddenly being yanked her hair.

 _Oh my fucking god_

Buttercup's head whips around so fast that if Bubbles wasn't so preoccupied with not becoming a bald eagle she would've been worried that her sister's neck would snap.

She doesn't even have the privilege of seeing who the hell is yanking her into the distance until he's pulled rather harshly to the point where she's facing the sky. Her hands are reaching upwards to keep his hands on her scalp so that he doesn't rip her hair out.

There was no fucking way that this idiot was making her lose her hair

Bubbles finds herself finally able to see at least the eyes of her attacker and she swears something clicks in her brain.

His face was masked, a complete balaclava over his head and suddenly Buttercup's kicking him from behind his knee, which ironically has the blonde and him falling to the ground rather graciously.

Okay no, everything fucking hurt and Bubbles could feel the stupid asphalt digging into her palms and skimming her unprotected knees.

The side of her face isn't any better, with her head being held it's met with the concrete and it freaking stings like a motherfucker.

Bubbles's face actually curls and she's elbowing him in the face causing him to finally let go of her beloved locks and cover his face with his hands

"Bitch, I'm fucking bleeding!" he growls in disbelief, ready to grab her but Bubbles is already rolling away rather rushed.

 _Uh, so am I you freaking pencil-dick!_ Bubbles almost barks back

Buttercup finally snaps "Ace, fucking stop it!"

Everyone kind of falters at that

Even the boys. They pause briefly along with the remaining members of the Gangreen gang before using the opportunity to their advantage.

Butch lands an uppercut towards lil Arturo, knocking the smaller teen back before kneeing him in the face

Boomer grins, grabbing the lid of a nearby trashcan and slamming it into the back of his head, causing him to collapse before motioning Butch to head back to the inside of the café.

He spares another quick glance at a motionless member before turning back to Butch. He doesn't miss the way his older brother stares towards Ace and Buttercup, obvious interest in his gaze. Boomer clicks to gain his attention

Butch stares blankly in return, before perking up as he hears Snake's orders inside and his face morphs into realisation.

The blond is already heading back inside and rolling his eyes, Butch grinning enthusiastically and on his tail before closing the door rather quietly.

Bubbles sits up, her mind finally clicking everything into place and she snaps her attention towards Buttercup with her jaw hanging open.

"No way" Bubbles finds herself gawking

Ace narrows his eyes towards Buttercup and despite the fact that the guy made her scalp ache, Bubbles wishes she had some soda and popcorn for the drama that would possibly ensue.

Buttercup is panting, eyes wild and suddenly, she's rushing towards him and using a right hook to the side of his face.

Bubbles's jaw drops once again because—yikes

 _That was definitely going to bruise_

"Stay out of this!" Ace snaps, annoyed and downright shoves her away—immediately, Bubbles is off of the ground and besides her sister in seconds

"What the fuck?! You did not just say that" Buttercup glowers, eyes flashing and she's already on her feet, swinging.

Now frantic, Bubbles glances around to find something—literally anything that could possibly be used as a weapon.

Her knees are already skidded, so she bites back a hiss when she's crawling over to Lil Arturo's person, hands roaming around his jacket and yanking out a pocket knife.

She fumbles with it and almost drops the stupid thing in the process before managing to get the blade to appear.

Eyes wild, Bubbles gets to her feet—only to be grabbed by the back of her collar thrusted back down and have her back collide with a brick wall, pocket knife dropped from the pure surprise that she felt

Her breath comes out ragged and blue eyes have doubled in size at Grubber's swelled up face, blood dripping down from his nose.

 _Bitch weren't you knocked the fuck out next to a dumpster!?_

Lip curling, he spits out blood nearby, red saliva dripping down his chin and she's reeling away in disgust

 _Grossgrossgross—Oh my god she's going to barf_

He's leering down at her and Bubbles' mind is suddenly going a thousand miles per hour. Using the palm of her hand she managed to strike it against the bottom of his jaw up. He reels away immediately, crying out in pain to tend to his face, eyes flashing with anger.

 _Ohmygodohmygodohmygod OH MY GOOD GOD_

He pulls out his own pocket knife, and she's screaming like a banshee and attempting to kick his shins to get him the hell away from her existence.

 _I HAVE NO IDEA ON WHAT I AM DOING, PLEASE GO AWAY KIND SIR_

He's practically the same height as her, and manages to corner her against the wall once again, using his handgun, instead of actually shooting her, he smacks her across the face with it

 _OKAY NOT KIND, NOWHERE NEAR KIND. WHERE'S THE KINDNESS AT? WOWOWOWOW RUDE_

She yelps, wanting to raise her hands to nurse her face but she's faced with the barrel of the gun

Her heart constricts and it's pure adrenaline pumping through her veins. Her back was pressed up against the brick wall—Holyshitholyshitholyshit

 _Bang_

Bubbles screams at the sound of the gunshot but there's no pain. Immediately, Grubber stumbles and fucking falls—falls into her arms like a sack of potatoes.

It doesn't really take a genius to put two and two together and she pales. She's instantaneously brought back towards her knees with a bleeding— _freaking bleeding_ Gangreen gang member on her person.

She's shaking—he cannot be fucking dead right now. She's already witnessed one fucking death tonight, any more would leave her traumatised for life.

By now, both Buttercup and Ace have brought their attention towards them, both of their eyes wide in horror and she doesn't know what to do.

Ace is skidding along the ground in seconds, eyes suddenly wild as he's gently prying Grubber away from her and onto the floor, facing the sky.

"Oh my god" Buttercup says, disbelief evident in her features as she crouches besides her sister

"He's not dead you fucking morons" Boomer rolls his eyes and Butch grins, gun in hand

"I mean, not yet anyway" he adds in as an afterthought and Butch snorts "It's just a flesh wound"

"And how the fuck would you know that?!" Ace barks, ripping his mask off—Butch is in front of him in seconds and gripping onto the collar of his shirt

"You" Butch snaps, turning towards Ace "shut the hell up." Buttercup's jaw drops "He's bleeding out of his damn shoulder, for Christ's sake. Don't you watch TV? He's going to live."

Ace pulls out his handgun once again, arm shaking from anger as he presses the muzzle against Butch's chest "I should fucking kill you on the spot"

Immediately, Buttercup is on her feet and grabbing a hold of the arm "Ace, don't you fucking dare!" she growls, struggling to keep it at bay

"What the fuck are you still doing here?! Stay the hell out of this!" he goes to kick her in the chest, away but Butch is already yanking Ace away by the collar and slamming him into the wall and ripping the gun out easily, before tossing it towards Boomer with his free hand—he catches it without batting an eye, raising an eyebrow towards his brother.

"You really want to go there?" Butch asks dangerously calm, substituting the collar for his throat and Ace pales "You really want to fucking go there?" He asks again, grip tightening— Buttercup finds herself wincing

 _Holy shit_

"Fuck off, I wasn't going to actually hurt her" Ace grunted, and Buttercup doesn't know how to feel when she sees blood—actual blood drip down his mouth. Teeth stained red

 _Did I do that?_

There's a part of her that's pretty fucking proud that she'd managed to land enough hits to make the fucker _bleed_

"Really now?" Boomer suddenly asked, amused "Is that why you had your dumbass lackeys threaten them with fucking guns?" he snorts

Noticing Ace's face beginning to drain of colour at an alarming rate Buttercup immediately grabbed onto Butch's free arm " _Butch!_ " her eyes widened, voice suddenly desperate "Butch, stop!"

Scoffing, Butch's grip on Ace's throat increased as he brought his free hand forward onto his neck as well, before bringing the figure forward and the Gangreen gang leader suddenly gasped for air, throwing his head back and bringing his hands to his throat, attempting to pry Butch's hands away.

" _Butch!_ "

"You're hilarious, Ace" Butch smirked, taking a moment to really just stop and take in how desperate he was before loosening his grip entirely and letting him drop to the ground, hunched over in a coughing fit.

"That was so uncalled for" Buttercup says quietly, alarmed and Boomer laughs, shoving his brother

"Butch you fucking psycho"

He flips his brother off in retort "Takes one to know one, ass-face"

Everyone perks up at the sound of sirens coming from the distance

"Shit then" Boomer blinks and Butch gawks "Who the fuck called the cops!?" he zaps his attention towards the open door leading back to the café and scowls "Oh are you fucking kidding me? One of those idiots actually had the balls to—"

"I did it" Buttercup says, narrowing her eyes towards him and he spins around, sputtering "What the fuck—why?!"

"Because that's what normal people do when they're about to die Butch!"

"Are you kidding me?! Who the fuck said anything about dying?"

"They had guns!"

"Bitch, so?!"

Bubbles is still mortified, back pressed up against the wall as she's using her jacket to put pressure on the wound, terrified with the thought of blood oozing out of Grubber's shoulder blade

 _Ohmygodohmygodohmygod_

Boomer's already couching down beside her, scrunching up his nose in annoyance "stop that" he snaps and Bubbles snaps her attention towards him, close to hysteria

"S-Stop?! Are you being for real right now? There's a dying person in front of me—"

"He's fine" Boomer scoffs, prying her hands away and she swallows thickly, her throat dry.

"You've been applying pressure this entire time" he rolls his eyes "Although, I don't see why. But you've done it long enough for the bleeding to subside. He was never in any life threatening danger to begin with"

Her mind suddenly goes blank _wouldn't he have bled out?_ "…Oh" she responds, voice small and Boomer's eyeing the goose bumps spread across her limbs

"…Should've given you some sweatpants or extra layers, huh?" he asks, amused and Bubbles perks up at the change in tone, alarmed when he began to unzip his jacket

"Wait no—"

"THIS IS THE TOWNSVILLE POLICE"

Before Bubbles can so much as blink, his jacket is obstructing her view for a split second before its covering her head entirely. By the time that she's regained her bearings and is yanking the leather away from her Boomer's already moved back to where his older brother and Buttercup are and is prying Butch away and behind him.

Something in her flutters and it makes her go _cold_

Everyone's attention is diverted towards the three cops who have apparently been so gracious enough to appear after the damage is done and Buttercup's scowling as she's going over to help her up, faltering when seeing Grubber's unconscious form

"Well, this is a predicament," Boomer noted, nonchalant and Buttercup gawked

"Damn" her hands bunched up leather before hauling a stumbling Bubbles up to her feet.

Butch scowls, face hardening at the sight of the police and Boomer smiles and waves towards their newcomers who begin taking in the scene with eyebrows raised

"…What the hell happened here?!"

Buttercup wonders why she didn't just drag Bubbles out of the damn café when she had the chance.

* * *

 _Seventeen hours_

Blossom has no idea—no fucking idea on what's happening

Bubbles has almost been missing for an entire day. An entire day—granted it was six thirty pm and she had until around one before it was a full twenty four hours.

"Babe, calm down" Dexter's voice rang through the speakers in her phone

"Ca—Calm down?! How am I supposed to calm down! One of my sister's is missing and who knows where and the other one's being a freaking brat and decided to venture off in nothing but a t-shirt!" she snapped into the receiver before wincing at her actions

"Oh god, I'm sorry Dexter. I didn't mean to yell" guilt instantly washes over her

"No, no I get it. You're just worried, it's fine. I rather have you let out all your anger now anyway," he waved her off "It's better than you snapping at someone in the street by accident or hurting yourself"

"Hurting myself?" Blossom gaffed, offended "Please. Who am I, Buttercup?" she scoffed, the corners of her lips twitching upwards and tension in her shoulders fading as she visibly relaxed

"I mean, Buttercup would get into fights with people even if she wasn't mad" He deadpanned "But you'd probably end up snapping at some poor unsuspecting citizen if a vending machine wasn't working in the street at this rate"

Her jaw dropped open, affronted at the accusation "W-What?! No I would not!"

"…Sure, princess" she pouted at his response, suddenly overwhelmingly grateful that he wasn't able to see her and catch her small act of immaturity in person

She would never hear the end of it if he had

"I just…I have no idea on what's happening right now" her voice trembles "I didn't even realise Bubbles was gone until around lunch time? I should've checked her room or something when I had the chance"

"It wasn't your responsibility to" Dexter points out and she frowns

"I'm the eldest and the Professor left me in charge. So yes, no offence but I kind of is my responsibility"

"Blossom you passed out on the couch for God's sakes, you were too exhausted from all that had happened and quite frankly, I don't blame you"

"Yeah but it's not like I passed out immediately! I was awake enough when I just got home and was hanging out with Brick"

"Exactly, you were busy. It's not like you predicted that you'd run into an old friend" He sates calmly and Blossom gapes

"But—"

"Bubbles isn't going to hold a grudge against you Blossom" he interrupts firmly, tone allowing no room for further argument and she pauses, grimacing because he's right

"…Okay"

"Okay?" she hears him ask through the speakers and Blossom rolls her eyes at how he stressed the word

"Yeah, okay!" He smiles, laughing lightly and she feels her face heat up indignantly in embarrassment. She almost trips on her own feet when it's the house phone that rings

"Uh…hold up"

Her face immediately morphs into momentarily confusion, before annoyance spreads across her features as she walks over and grabs the cordless phone before pressing the green button to accept the call

"Hello?"

"Good evening. Miss Utonium I presume? This is Townsville police"

She almost faints as her jaw drops "…Just one second—"she immediately switches phones and grabs her cell phone

She can hear Dexter's confused questions through the speakers

"Dexter, I'm going to need to call you back. Sorry, bye" Blossom doesn't even wait for a response and hangs up immediately, throwing her phone onto the couch she pulls the house phone back against her ear

"I beg your pardon but what" Blossom states, ready to throw herself into a shark infested ocean.

The officer seems rather bashful himself as he coughs "I'm sorry but is John Utonium there? I'm going to need to speak to your legal guardian."

"He…He's not going to be here for another couple of hours" she gaped, perplexed "Excuse my tone but what exactly is going on?"

She can hear him sigh rather deeply and it only leaves Blossom even more jumbled "There was a robbery downtown, near central Townsville—"

 _Say what_

It should be on the news actually. Both of your sisters Bubbles and Buttercup Utonium are here"

 _SAY WHAT_

* * *

"Hey I have an idea" Butch suddenly states as he sits up from his position on the metal bench. He flashes everyone a dangerous grin, looking giddy "Let's play would you rather, here I'll go first"

"Would you rather swallow or spit?" Butch asks and both sisters turn to glare at him with eyes flashing with murder

"Are you fucking serious—"Buttercup snarls in disgust as her eyes narrow dangerously.

 _It's really too late into the evening for any of this_

"Okay, okay!" he raises his hands up in mock surrender "Bad question. I'll ask another" his eyes suddenly twinkle

"Okay. so would you rather your partner have a bondage kink or—"

"Butch, shut the fuck up" Boomer suddenly barks, snorting and throws a magazine at his head "We're in a fucking jail cell" he laughs "You're such a freaking dumbass!"

 _The Professor was probably going to go into a coma when he finds out just where they are._ Bubbles's mouth draws into a thin line, her expression grim as she dug her hands into her jacket pockets.

Butch grins and grabs the magazine "Remember when I asked for your opinion Boomer? No? Me neither." he rolls his eyes and stands up, stretching

 _Maybe Blossom hasn't told him yet. Maybe she's still hanging out with Brick_

Boomer looked at the girls exasperated "You see the kind of bullshit I have to put up with?" Buttercup felt the corners of her mouth twitch upwards in amusement.

"Hey Butch, you ever wonder what life would've been like if you'd gotten enough oxygen at birth?" Boomer asks, taking a moment to stare into the distance looking rather wistful and Bubbles hides a snort behind her hand while Buttercup outright laughs

He gawks "Dude, you're such a dick!" Butch immediately then cracks up and kicks his brother in the leg

The blond sticks his tongue out, snickering "Takes one to know one, ass-face"

Butch's jaw drops "Dude you did not just fucking use my own thing against me. I'm gonna fuck you up Boom" he wrapped his arm around his younger brother in a headlock as Boomer snarled and began using his hand to repeatedly smack him in the face.

"Hey" Bubbles suddenly said, causing everyone to pause as three sets of eyes landed on her. She thrust her chin in the direction of the boys "What's going to happen to you guys?"

Buttercup found herself raising her brows in realisation as she span around to face them "That's right. Are you guys…going to be okay?" she asked awkwardly

Both teens seemed to step away from each other. Blinking slowly, Butch raised an eyebrow "what do you mean?"

"I mean," the blonde rolled her eyes, stressing out the two words slowly "We've got the Professor to get us out" she frowned "But what about you two? How are you guys going to get out of here?"

"Me" Brick suddenly replied acidly, issuing a scathing glare right past her and towards his brothers as he stepped in the room and crossed his arms with a guard in tow.

Butch beamed "Well it's about god damn time bro!" he ran towards the front of the bars with his arms extended

"…Never mind, I'll just be taking Boomer home" the redhead says flatly towards the guard causing Butch's jaw to drop

"Bitch say what?!"

Boomer smirks but doesn't say anything as he watches Brick's expression harden again "See this is why I can't leave you idiots alone for five fucking seconds" he mutters before turning his gaze behind them and towards the remaining figures.

Bubbles finds herself blinking in surprise when Brick suddenly stares at her, his gaze level "They find you then?" he thrusts his chin in Buttercup's direction and she opts a more amiable expression

"Uh…Yeah" she smiles awkwardly "It's kind of a long story" her eyes flicker towards Boomer's figure, who was busy flipping off Butch and taking Buttercup's side in an argument and the redhead doesn't miss it

"I'm sure" Brick remarks drily, looking as if he'd rather be leading a speech on world peace in a high school assembly than be here

Bubbles almost pouts and Brick rolls his eyes "It's good to see you again, sunshine" he nods towards her once more and she smiles and shrugs

Lord have mercy, she just wanted to go home and sleep

"Yeah, you too"

"Alright!" Boomer suddenly claps, drawing everyone's attention "We've been here for like, I don't know an hour? Two hours? I'm fucking starving lets go already!"

"We were eating before we got here" Buttercup points out distractedly as she takes a moment to will herself not to gawk over the three boys

 _Damn, if only Blossom were here and it'd be a legitimate reunion_

"Bitch that was like four or five hours ago"

Ignoring the more than theatrical conversation that his siblings were engaged in, Brick made eye contact with the officer and tilts his head ever so slightly. His gaze expectant

The guard coughs, as if finally realising he has a purpose and turns towards the other guard

"Evening, Al" he nods, smiling lightly towards his co-worker who has just completed sifting through his paperwork and sighs

"These kids are going to be the death of me Marcus" he snorts, rolling his eyes "Especially that young lady over there" his eyes dart towards Buttercup and back towards him exasperated

Brick idly wonders if flat out knocking the guy out would be quicker as he stands with a less than amiable expression

The guard Brick's come in with laughs "No worries, I'll take them off your shoulders. The boys are free to go"

He looks confused "But what about their guardian? Are they here?"

"Nah, but we've managed to reach him and it's been given the okay" he shrugs "Listen Al, your shift's almost over anyway. Go ahead and pack up and I'll take over, you look exhausted"

Al blinks slowly before sighing "I guess you're right" he runs a hand through his balding hair and grabs his things

"Thanks Marcus. Watch out for the girl in the shirt. She's got spunk" he snorts causing Buttercup to gawk

"The audacity"

"Will do, Goodnight"

The door shuts and Butch stretches "Fucking FINALLY. I thought that guy would never leave" he snorts, as Marcus or whoever the hell he is comes and unlocks their jail cell.

Brick snaps his attention back onto him and narrows his eyes "You" he hissed "What the fuck did you do now?"

Butch made an extremely offended sound "The fuck you mean 'me'?! If anything, I'm the damn victim around here! Those fuckers didn't even let me finish my cake" he glowers before blinking and whipping round back to everyone else in horror in realisation

"My cake!" he squawks

Brick looks like he regrets ever stepping foot into Townsville's police station as he stares at his sibling in concealed disbelief

Unbothered by his older brother's now growing tantrum, Boomer walks past him and out of the cell before jumping up onto the previous officer's desk and mindlessly sifts through his paperwork

"Damn, I look hot in this mugshot" he grins haphazardly, eyes shining in approval as he shows the rest of the gang before snorting "Butch you look constipated as hell"

"Don't touch those" Brick says, automatically

Butch spins around, rubbernecked "Bitch the fuck you mean?! Fuck it, I'm kicking your ass Boom!" he snaps, racing out to snatch the document out of his brother's hand

"Oh hell, I'd pay to see that" Buttercup leaps across the inside of the cell, only to be met with the guard blocking her exit

"Sorry Miss Utonium, but I'm afraid we can't let either of you leave until either one of your parents or guardians show up" he says gruffly

Buttercup's jaw drops in offence while Bubbles looks ridiculously unfazed

"What the fu—but how is that any fair?! Brick's like our age and he can bring his brothers home?" he snaps, livid "The fuck kinda corrupted system are you people running here?"

"Because our guardian did call dumbass" Brick rolls his eyes

It's taking a ridiculous amount of strength that Buttercup wasn't even aware that she had possessed to not sock the redhead in the face in annoyance

Butch grins gleefully as he stands in front of the cell, and faces parallel towards the upset, raging teenager "Guess that sucks for you, huh Butterbutt?"

Her face contorts "I'm going to fucking murder you, Jojo"

"Please do" Boomer adds "Like, seriously"

There's a sudden loud bang, the sound of a door being slammed open so harsh that it slams against the other side of the wall

Now entering, looking dishevelled and exhausted out of her wits, Blossom Utonium gasps for air as she leans against her knees, body completely slumped over

No one really knows what to say at her completely abrupt and hazardous entrance

Brick stares, eyebrow raised

"Oh my God, Blossom" Bubbles says, surprised as she raises her hands to cover her mouth at her sister's current state

"Bubbles what the hell?!" she gasps, slumping in relief

The blonde doesn't really know how to make the situation any better and just offers a half-hearted wave "Uh, hey Blossy"

Butch suddenly cackles "Damn isn't this a blast from the past? The gang's all here!"

She shifts uncomfortably from the level of attention

"How you been, red?" Butch grins

Buttercup snaps her attention towards her "Well you took your fucking time" she huffs, "Alright, she's here. Let's go already!" she glowers back toward the guard

He stares at her levelly "No"

"Damn" Boomer snorts "That's harsh, dude"

Blossom finds herself feeling increasingly irritated at the complete lack of acknowledgement from her fellow redhead

 _Are you kidding me? Real mature Brick_ she almost scoffed, lips pulled into a tight line as he seemed to be blatantly ignoring her existence

Buttercup's jaw drops and Butch's entire face contorts into laughter as he clutches his stomach "You're triplets' dumbass! How are you expecting him to let you out when she's just as much of a minor as you are?"

"Butch, shut the hell up! It's both of your freaking faults we're even in here in the first place!" Buttercup snapped

Boomer raised his hand "I resent that"

He let out a loud laugh "Us? Yeah, okay sure. It's my fault a Starbucks was robbed" he rolled his eyes "I don't remember thrusting a gun in your face, but yeah. Whatever you say sweet cheeks."

"They weren't even after the damn money! They wanted you!"

Butch grinned cynically and twitched "I'm not really the type to be into five-some's or whatever orgy that would've been, but—"

"You two are not—"Bubbles's hair whipped back as she turned around and issued them a harsh glare "—starting this right now"

"Shit, sorry Bubbly" Butch blinks grinning apologetically

Blossom stares, _Excuse me_

Rolling her eyes, Buttercup scoffs from the pointed look Butch was giving her "Oh for the love of—Alright, sorry!" she crosses her arms in annoyance

Blossom isn't even able to fathom just how exactly everyone's managed to become so chummy with each other in the span of a day. She's frowning and from the corner of her eye she can see Brick conversing with the police officer.

Boomer waves towards her and _awkward isn't even the word_ — "Hey Blossom" his lips twitch upwards and she doesn't even know if she has the energy for this right now

"Still as awkward as ever I see"

 _Excuse me what?_

She then balks "Well can you freaking blame me?"

"Fair enough" He shrugs, then lights up as he swipes a bunch of papers off of the desk "Wanna see the mugshots? Butch looks constipated in his" Blossom stares at him before staring at Butch, genuinely concerned

"Seriously?" she asks while he lights up and waves them around. Bubbles glances towards them before turning towards Buttercup who returned her conversation with Butch

Brick snatches them out of his hand "I told you to stop fucking messing with this shit"

"Brick" her mouth decides to betray her brain with her abrupt greeting

He paused "Blossom" he grunts out

She wants to avoid him. Especially after the events that had transpired in Mitch's rundown abode, but her pride was mildly offended with the lack of acknowledgement

Unfazed by his brother, Boomer simply rolls his eyes and hops off of the desk "Just trying to lighten the mood"

"it doesn't need 'lighting'" Brick scoffs, ushering Boomer away from the area of the desk itself and sorting the papers back to their original position on the desk "We're leaving"

 _Was he always this rude?_

Frowning, Blossom turns towards the officer "You're saying that I can't get them out?"

"Not without a legal guardian ma'am" The man responded sternly

Bubbles glances towards them, having heard their conversation and turns towards the officer "They can seriously just leave?" she asks, voice laced with scepticism "Just like that?"

Boomer grins towards her, but doesn't really seem that sympathetic "Afraid so cutie"

"That's bullshit. This is bullshit. The whole system is bullshit" Buttercup declares bluntly and Butch barks out a laugh "I mean, you're not wrong"

Blossom stares at Brick. She doesn't know what she's expecting

There's a tightness in her chest when she watches Brick give his both his brothers a hard stare "We're leaving" he says slowly, tone hard and level. Boomer clicks his tongue while Butch rolls his eyes. Despite their more than less enthusiastic responses they're moving.

Boomer gives them a semi-apologetic grin and shrugs "You heard the boss. It's been good"

"Well, this has been fun and all. I'm not joking by the way, this entire thing was wild as hell" Butch cackles, waving "Ciao _puffs_ "

All three girls falter at Butch's words but Brick's already out of the door with the boys following his lead behind.

It takes a moment for Blossom's brain to catch up and she quickly makes her way to the door "Wait, Brick!"

Faltering, Brick turned to her direction, eyebrow raised expectant

Literally all he wanted was to go home

"What?"

 _This was too awkward_

Boomer finds himself spinning around, intrigued but Butch smacks his ass with a ruler while running past him and towards the exit. Boomer yelped and immediately began nursing his sore behind "—the fuck, Butch?!"

Both Blossom and Brick stare in disbelief as they zoomed past them. Butch cackling maniacally and jumping over desks with Boomer doing the same to get to him, barely a metre or two behind.

… _At least this was a good ice breaker_

"These fucking children" Brick muttered, his face morphed into a complete mixture of infuriation and exasperation "I'm going to fucking drop them and move to Italy, I fucking swear"

Blossom finds her lips twitching upwards as she watches as they race out of the building entirely, unbothered by the surprised officers "They really haven't changed from when we were kids"

He scoffs "Hardly. They've gotten worse from when they were kids"

She shrugs "That's not necessarily a bad thing," he gives her a flat look and as if on que, there's a suspiciously distant sound of glass shattering

She gawks at the door towards the exit while Brick pinches the bridge of his nose "I rest my fucking case"

"Language" Blossom reprimands quietly. Ignoring her last comment, he turns towards her

"What do you want Blossom?" he asks impatiently "Because if you haven't noticed, I've got two fucking brats to take care of"

She frowns immediately and shifts slightly. She can't recall Brick's temper being this bad as children and it's really throwing her off

She inhales "Did you mean what you said before?" she asks "About Bubbles. About not caring about how we all used to be friends?"

He doesn't bat an eye "Yes"

 _Stupidstupidstupid_

Of course he doesn't care. Its been literal years—

"You still helped me. You drove me home—"

He tenses. Its fucking stupid so he forces himself to relax "That was a different matter entirely" he scoffs "there was a fight breaking out a street away and you're dumb as hell for thinking a bus would show up to that neighbourhood at that hour"

She pauses, mind drawing into a conclusion

 _Oh so he does care, he's just too full of himself to notice or admit it_

"Do you—" she bites her lip, pride taking over

Ugh, stupid pride. All she wanted was his damn phone number—okay that just sounded like she was hitting on him. It was still a good opportunity to make amends, become friends again, find out why their life was suddenly in shambles—

"Do I what?" he demands "I don't have all day Utonium"

She gazes, frowning at him "You know what? Forget it"

They stare at each other levelly for a moment, before Blossom spins on her heel and heads back. Pulling out her cell phone,

"Does your dad know?" He suddenly asks, his voice rough and Blossom looks at him questioningly "The Professor I mean, about this" he clarifies and nods towards the other door leading towards the room holding her sisters.

She's genuinely surprised he's asking "He doesn't. I don't know how I'm supposed to even tell him, he's not even in town yet"

He hums "Well good luck with that." he snorts and she stares, stomach churning as he makes his exit.

She doesn't even know what she was expecting when she sees the automatic glass doors of the exit slide shut behind him.

* * *

Back inside their temporary cell, Buttercup stares towards the door blankly "They did not just leave us here"

Bubbles is already sitting back on the bench with her head in her hands exhausted "Maybe you should be thankful that they're gone"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Feeling exhausted, Marcus rips out the earphones from his ears and gets to his feet, intent on grabbing some caffeine from the main office to withstand the long night.

 _Teenagers_ He rolls his eyes at the thought at heads outside, completely unnoticed by the girls.

"Blossom's going to have a field day once she regains her senses and sees your neck" she mutters, looking up to give her sister a blunt look

"You're not any better. You're wearing what, Boomer's clothes?" Buttercup points out, subconsciously rubbing her neck as if it would magically make the hickeys disappear.

She shrugs, uncaring "Bite me"

Buttercup makes a face "I don't see why you're so nonchalant about this. You were missing for an entire day and magically show up with Boomer? Seriously?"

Bubbles opts to stare at her sister levelly "Wasn't really a choice"

 _She doesn't get it. she really doesn't get it._

Buttercup stares back, unnerved "I'm sure it wasn't"

She's already clicking back into routine with Butch and Bubbles doesn't even think Buttercup's realised it yet

"You showed up with Butch" she states, tracing the hem of her t-shirt absentmindedly

"He happened to turn up to Mitch's house. It's different" she snaps, towering over her

"You guys seem to be on good terms now" she raises an eyebrow, daring her to counteract

"We're not—"Bubbles continues to give her a pointed look and she groans, frustrated "Or maybe we are. Look, I don't know! You were missing for fuck's sake and he offered to help!"

Bubbles feels a tinge of guilt at that and turns to face the bars "I'm sorry" Buttercup's eyes widen at the abrupt apology and visibly relaxes

"Yeah well," she grumbles "We've got more important things to worry about, The Professor—"

"The Professor is going to kill us!" Blossom shrieks abruptly, unknowingly scaring the wits out of her younger siblings as they both jump at her grand entrance into the room

"Have you…have you called him yet?" Bubbles asks softly

"And say what exactly?!" she gawks "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it! What the hell even happened—"

"Miss Utonium" a voice suddenly rings out, silencing the close to hyperventilating teenager as the three turn around in surprise as Marcus strolls back in.

"…Uh, yes sir?" she answers unsurely

"We got a call. Your sisters a free to go" he says, grabbing some papers and placing them in a clipboard for her

"Just sign here for me please" he says gruffly and Blossom finds herself using all of her energy not to drop her jaw in complete surprise as she numbly signed her signature onto the documents.

"Excuse me, what" Buttercup says, summarising their thoughts "Our dad called?"

"No" he clicks his tongue, taking the clipboard back from Blossom's hands and signing underneath "Not him, we got a call from the Jojo's—"They froze

Buttercup's mouth morphed into a wide grin, not bothering to mask her glee as she rushed to where the door would open. "No freaking way"

"Their guardian explained the situation" he stamped the papers "The three of you must have pretty good luck to have such great connections. Especially here in Townsville" he laughed before grabbing the keys out of a draw and reopening the cell.

Bubbles got to her feet as her mind went into overdrive, suddenly cold. _This wasn't right_

"Yeah," Blossom said, making eye contact with her sisters "I guess we are" she responded, as she thought back to Brick's words _'good luck with that'_ suddenly warm.

 _(_ _Baby you're no good, they warned me 'bout your type,_

 _I've been ducking left and right_

 _But I'm so glad we're acquainted)_

 **A/N: THANKS FOR WAITING FOR SO LONG AND BEING SO PATIENT MY LOVELIES! I REALLY DO APOLOGISE FOR UPDATING SO LATE!**

 **I'll try to do better now that classes are ending for the summer but I have work too and I'm going on holiday later on so rip to my already shitty update schedule –cries-**

 **THANK YOU ALL TO THOSE WHO'VE FAVOURITED AND FOLLOWED THE STORY! AND THANK YOU TO THE SILENT READERS!**

 **Crashdownbabe:** **OMG BLESS YOU FOR READING THIS EVEN THOUGH YOU HAD A PRESENTATION THE DAY LATER! THOUGH PLEASE DON'T DO THAT LOLOLOL I WANT YOU TO SUCCEED IN LIFE MY CHILD. Though, I'm honoured omg. Of course he does! Even though Brick's a total ass and blind to romance he deffo has a crush on our favourite brace face. Even if she doesn't have them anymore haha. LMAOO HUFFLEPUFF'S GOTTA TAKE CARE OF THEIR SLYTHERINS IT'S THE LAW I DON'T MAKE UP THE RULES. Rip to Brick, he was genuinely shook af with Princess's bullshit.**

 **Ash141:** **THANK YOU DARLING! I'm trying hard to distinguish some changes between the six of them from before and how they are now. Slowly but surely, I'll have more bold differences to add. The greens don't really show it yet, but I do want to portray a clear difference eventually. THANK YOU FOR YOUR REVIEW! TAKE CARE LOVELIE!**

 **IvyDelaine:** **THANK YOU DARLING! I appreciate you taking the time to review and like my work!**

 **Ti:** **BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE LONG ASS REVIEWS I SEE. God bless your existence! Yeah rip to me for giving you my tumblr huh? LMAO I'M JOKING ILY. Can you believe my lazy ass finally updated? I'm genuinely surprised.**

 **YES A FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN BRICK AND BC WOULD BE LEGENDARY LMAO! As for how much they've all 'matured' I'd say that Butch and Boomer are still total dorks. They're still kids LMAO but yeah, I appreciate you analysing and being able to differentiate the change between their past and present selves. I'm still working on it though LMAO. It's not that present yet, especially with the greens.**

 **WHY DO YOU TRAVEL SO MUCH LMAO SIT DOWN GIRL.**

 **Hope this somewhat answers your questions on whether or not Buttercup and Ace know each other haha. SORRY I MADE YOU WAIT SO LONG FOR AN UPDATE BUT HERE YOU ARE CHICA!**

 **Rara Erza Heartfilia:** **WHOAAAAAAAA YOURSELF GIRL, I'VE READ 'MINE, HIS' SMH. PERFECTION. SO MUCH DRAMA IT'S LIKE A STAR PLUS SERIES.**

 **Parity Air:** **AHHHHHHHH GIRL YOU BLESSED MY ASS WITH MAD LONG REVIEWS ILY LETS GET MARRIED. Jk jk, but thank you! 'Have I ever told you that you're my spirit animal?' GIRL HELLO HAHA. YOU'RE HILARIOUS CHICA I'M CRACKING UP AT YOUR REVIEWS! Honestly, yeah. Butch acts all high and mighty but he's lowkey a pussy in situations where something like a cockroach or a mouse is involved LOL. I'LL MAKE IT MORE CLEAR ON THE NEXT CHAPTER, ABOUT THE FLASHBACK FROM CHAPTER 4.**

 **Regarding Lloyd and Floyd, yeah but they're white so it's understandable if the spice is too much LMAO jk jk. I'm Indian and I can barely take spice. I'm a disappointment to Asians everywhere –cries-**

 **YEAH LOLOL RIP TO THEM. They were poor as kids and I'm screaming over how you picked up on Brick hating the cold yet he still gave Blossom his jacket! I think you're the only one who picked up on that! BLESS YOU GIRL!**

 **In all honestly, Brick himself seems like such a complex character. His reasoning for giving Blossom his jacket is probably flawed itself since he seems like the type to be in such denial over sentimental things and stuff.**

 **ANYWAY, THANKS A BUNCH FOR REVIEWING PRECIOUS!**

 **Supersweetluvbug:** **YOUR USERNAME IS SO PRECIOUS CAN I HUG YOU PLS? Lmao thank you so much for reviewing! LMAO 'Princess was priceless' I DON'T KNOW WHY I SNORTED SO LOUD AT THAT. Thank you so much for thinking the ideas were good! I feel as though Brick's too prideful for things and Boomer's 100% done with is nonsense. Honestly, child Butch was a bean. Maybe not a 'pure bean' but a bean nonetheless. His character offers a lot to work with and I'm glad you sympathised with his past!**

 **THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEW DARLING!**

 **Leeful:** **THE AUDACITY LMAOOOOO. Why are you like this. Then again, I'm not surprised. We both nap all the damn time. YEAH MAN, FUCK MATH LOLOLOL.**

 **YEAH BITCH. DAMN RIGHT I WAS CALLLING YOU OUT LMAOOOO. Can't even let a bitch breath and touch a piece of sports equipment before your ass comes in running for a dumbass match.**

 **WELL IDFK MAN IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR FALLING FOR THE CRAZY ONES SHEESH—WAIT NO HOE. YOU GOTTA STAY LOYAL TO BRICK AND HIS CRAZY TEMPERED ASS! SMH. The audacity. Trying to trade biases. Who tf do you think you are?**

 **ANYWAY LMAOOO I'M SNORTING, ILY. THANKS FOR REVIEWING HOE**

 **Binkylle:** **THANKS SO MUCH FOR LOVING THE CHAPTER AND STORY SO FAR! I mean, in terms of how they joined a gang and such, I wouldn't say they necessarily had a thing against it just yet. Butch's past was somewhat exposed but I suppose he specifically hated how the people in that gang that came into Lloyd and Floyd's house could get away with what they were doing.**

 **I'll expand later, I promise LMAO.**

 **THANKS A TON FOR REVIEWING PRECIOUS!**

 **Pinksakura271:** **LMAO I WROTE THAT IT WAS SHORT BEFORE I FINISHED BECAUSE I DECIDED TO ADD MORE AND FORGOT TO TAKE THAT OFF OF THE AUTHOR'S NOTE! My bad.**

 **Honestly, I feel like Buttercup is set for life with that potty mouth of hers. LMAO. Honestly, yes. The professor being a good, father is 10/10 what I love LMAO. He's such a good dad to the three of them.**

 **I feel like Blossom would've automatically taken charge with handling all of their studies LMAO. She's just so protective, I can picture her being the designated tutor of the group with Brick's occasional inputs up until they get to a point where Brick feels annoyed LMAO.**

 **Princess is…well she's a funny one. Let's leave her at that LOLOLOL. I don't necessarily hate her. Her character makes things interesting and she'll maybe have a slightly bigger role in this. Who knows? She is a hoe tho LMAO.**

 **Yeah, back in the actual cartoon Bubbles knew a variety of languages because of her powers. I feel like she'd still have the interest in them and the cultures despite not automatically knowing them haha.**

 **Brick's definitely a complex one, I'll give him that. LOL.**

 **ANYWAY THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LEAVE SUCH A THOUGHTFUL REVIEW!**

 **Candyluv99** **: AHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FEELING THAT WAY! I'M SORRY I BROUGHT YOU TO TEARS OMFG. I'M GLAD YOU LIKED THE STORY, AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE REVIEW DARLING!**

 **A/N: OKAY THAT'S ALL FOR REVIEWS! THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I've been typing this since June and I've had the motivation of a sea slug to actually type consistently. I apologise for my incompetence**

 **It's been like…two months almost? I'm sorry I tried, I swear LOL**

 **NOTE: Fanfiction's messing with my linebreakers and underlines so I'm really sorry if the format looks messed up at some points in the chapter.**

* * *

 _(I can't show you a ruined part of myself_

 _Once again I put a mask again and go to see you_

 _But I still want you)_

 _Tuesday March 14_ _th_ _2013_

"Dude, I haven't had chicken nuggets in like, forever" Boomer practically moans as he chews on the Mc Donald's delicacy "This shit tastes divine"

Blossom watches, unimpressed from opposite on their table while Buttercup's expression morphs into something sinister as she swipes a handful out of his box

His jaw drops entirely at the act of treason "What the hell Buttercup?!"

She blinks innocently "What?" before stuffing her face with the entire handful and chewing

Blossom frowns at her sister, disapproval was practically written in bold on her forehead "Buttercup"

By now Boomer's holding the box protectively towards his person, looking comically offended "Man BC, you suck"

The raven haired teen swallows her food and immediately gawks "Dude, you've got like the box that has twenty nuggets!" she turns towards Blossom and gestures towards the blond teen, eyes wild

"Girl so?! This is my breakfast, lunch and dinner hoe!" he huffs before narrowing his eyes at her

"Dad's making lamb kebabs for dinner" he rolls his eyes, sucking the straw from his juice box "Which yeah, in retrospect sounds nice but not when it's cooked by him,"

He then pauses for dramatic effect before leaning in towards both girls sitting opposite "He puts grated bananas in the marinate and in kneads it into the meat"

Blossom pulls a face while Buttercup looks mortified "ew"

"Yeah 'ew'! The fuck does he think this is?" Boomer makes an extremely offended noise "I mean, Butch thinks it's cool but he's also got the taste buds of a caveman so screw him" he waves off "Brick's whatever about it but again, I'm not a caveman" he continues seriously

Blossom and Buttercup gawk at him

"You have no idea on what it's like to constantly have to deal with Mojo as a dad, it's like he was born as a monkey in a past life or some shit with the amount of bananas he includes in our meals" he chews on his nugget thoughtfully "I'm telling you, this shit ain't normal"

Buttercup stares at him for a solid minute, absorbing the information and looking half remorseful and half like she was going to be sick "Dude, I'm sorry. I'll make you some lasagne or something for lunch tomorrow. Jesus Boomer, that's vile"

He perked up instantly and her face suddenly became stoic "None for Butch though, he's an ass"

Blossom stares into the distance looking as if she was in the office as their conversation kept going in the background before rolling her eyes in disbelief before taking a bite out of her lunch "I knew I should've sat next to the girls from dance when I had the chance" she muttered

Boomer laughs and snags his arm around her shoulder "Oh c'mon Bloss, you looooove us remember?" he snorted and looked over to her sister

Buttercup nodded snickering "She's just salty that Brick's not with us"

"The hell?" Boomer pulls a face "Why? Brick's the saltiest of us all"

Her jaw dropped in offence "Are you for real? Buttercup I'm salty that you didn't revise for midterms! Where even were you?"

"Midterms?" Boomer blinks looking as if he's just woken up and does a double take "We have midterms?"

Buttercup laughs nervously, throwing away the remains of her packaged sandwich "I was just hanging with the guys" she snorts and Blossom gives them both a deadpan expression and gently pries Boomer's arm off of her shoulders

"You both should be taking this more seriously!" she pouts

"I mean, I doubt that they're going to be that difficult" Boomer yawns "Actually, do they even count yet? We're not in high school till like next year"

Blossom stared at him with her jaw dropped before grabbing her almost empty water bottle and thwarting it against his head "That's not the kind of attitude you should be having when it comes to your education!"

He yelped and began to nursing his head "Gee, sorry Ma" Buttercup looked at him in sympathy

Eye twitching, Blossom sighed and gathered her things "I'm off, I've got to deliver some papers to Mrs Garcia's class"

Buttercup raised an eyebrow before slurping the remains of her orange juice from her juice box "What for?"

"I don't know" she shrugs and swings her rucksack on and pushes her chair in "Ask Ms Keane, I'll see you guys later" she then pauses and turns back to glare at them "Don't forget to study!"

Boomer mock salutes with a grin while Buttercup rolls her eyes and waves her older sister off "Yeah, yeah"

"I'm serious Buttercup!"

"I don't doubt it, red" she crushes her empty juice box in annoyance

Boomer hums "It's going to get confusing if you keep calling her 'red' you know? What If Brick suddenly comes running in?" he turns to Buttercup snorting

"Who cares?" she shrugs and begins packing her things away "So about the party this weekend—"

"—Princess's?" he asks, motioning for her to hand him her juice box and grabs his own trash to chuck in the bin

"No, Obama's" Boomer rolls his eyes and turns back towards her while swinging his bag over his shoulder

"Didn't know the Obamas were in town," He smirks "No wonder this party's rumoured to be so extravagant"

"Boomer, shut the hell up" Buttercup deadpans and he pouts

"I'm asking if you're going to play!"

He hums once again and starts heading out of the cafeteria, Buttercup easily walking step by step besides him "I dunno" he shrugs

She balks "You don't know?!"

"I've been using the school's instruments for all the performances here thus far, Buttercup" he smiles lightly before snorting "You really think they're going to let me borrow a guitar for Princess's party of all things?"

Buttercup opens her mouth to respond before promptly shutting it "Oh shit, that's right" she hissed in realisation

He stuck his tongue out "its mad lame. I'll probably have to ask Princess if she'll be able to let me borrow one during the night, but that just sounds lamer" he groans and rubs his face in exasperation

"Sucks," She shrugs and pats his shoulder with genuine sympathy "Worth a shot, I guess"

"She's either going to complain and whine about how unprofessional I am and throw a mega bitch fit," Boomer starts off thoughtfully "Or wave me off but it'll be there when I arrive"

Buttercup smirks "So we're hoping for the second option then are we?"

"Hell yeah" he snickers and fist bumps her before appearing at his locker and entering his combination before blindly pulling out his text books

"You're with Brick next period, aren't you?"

Buttercup nods, yawning "Yeah. He's pretty damn useful in class unlike the other one"

Boomer smirked and shut his locker "We don't speak of the other one"

They both made a face when the bell rang

"See you later Butters!"

* * *

 _Sunday 2018_

 _There's a lot of things Brick hates_

"What the hell—"Brick seethes, eyes flashing as he glowers towards his brothers once they've reached the inside of their home.

He's not even sure where to begin as he's massaging the bridge of his nose "what the actual fuck was that?" he snaps impatiently when Butch grins sheepishly towards him

"Honestly? It's been quite the fucking day man. We were at the Starbucks near the gym so the view was pretty fucking fantastic with all those babes walking in and out—"

Oh for the love of—"You" Brick snaps once again towards Butch "You stop talking" he turns his attention towards Boomer in aggravation "You tell me what the fuck happened or so help me—"

"Okay, breathe little miss hot head" Boomer rolls his eyes, unfazed by his brother's fury "The Gangreen gang robbed the Starbucks we were eating at but they barely glanced at the cash machines." He makes his way towards the fridge and pulls out the bread

"So clearly, either we've all done something to piss their asses off—" he grabs some margarine and other various ingredients haphazardly

"—or someone else we've pissed off didn't have the balls to come after us themselves and hired them" he shrugs, ignoring Butch's sudden piqued interest at his task

"Yo, I want one—"

"No" The blond replied in what could only be described as pure, concentrated deadpan

"The fuck Boomer? We're brothers. Where's the loyalty at though?"

"Up my ass"

"You got a stick up there too?"

"You want to fucking go Butch?" Boomer asked, mirroring the dark grin on his brother's face as they now stood, face to face

" _Enough_ " snapped a voice that caused the two cringe slightly and freeze before turning towards their brother

Brick stood, eyebrows furrowed as he silently began piecing information together "Alright," he paused to meet their stares "I'll figure out what the hell happened. We haven't done anything as of recently to piss them off"

Placing his hands on the counter, Butch hoisted himself up to sit down on the isle and smirked "So they were hired right?" his thumbs start bashing keys on his phone

"Had to be," Boomer sauntered past them and back towards the living room with his food "Unless they're just looking for a good time" he looked back, grinning lazily

"Well, I'd say we fucking delivered!" Butch snorted loudly before leaning forward "Too bad they're in jail. Would've been sweet to avenge my cake. That shit was better than sex—"

"That's a drink" Boomer pointed out, voice muffled by his sandwich

"No, you fucking dumbass, the drink's called 'sex on the beach'" Brick massaged his temples and Boomer snapped his fingers before pointing towards the redhead, making a noise of realisation

"Oh shit, that's right!" he grins, mouthful of food "Wait, I could've sworn 'Better than sex' was like a legit brand or something"

"Who the fuck cares? I wanna kick some ass!" Butch interrupts, placing his phone besides him before Brick has a chance to snap about table manners "Let's get the name of the bastard that hired them already, I'm wasting away over here"

Brick turns towards him "Why don't you fucking make something already?" he asks drily

"That's what Boomer's for—"he was promptly met with a cushion being smacked against his face. When both brothers turned to stare at the source Boomer was already back to finishing his second sandwich

Butch scoffed and threw the cushion back towards the couch "Asshole"

"Wanker" Boomer rolled his eyes before turning towards Brick "What do you want us to do about the Gangreen gang?"

Brick stood silently for a few moments "Nothing," he said, voice with finality "for now anyway"

"Say what—For real?!" Butch gawked, jumping off of the counter immediately

Already turning away and heading across the connecting rooms, Brick exited the kitchen and living room "I've gotta go make some phone calls. You'll get your orders tomorrow"

"You want dinner tonight?" Boomer called out as Brick started making his way up the stairs

"Order a pizza with pepperoni and extra jalapenos for me"

Butch's jaw dropped "Are you fucking kidding me?! He gets food? Him?!" his voice raises a good octave or two in disbelief and the blond just rolls his eyes

* * *

 _Sunday 2018_

Sipping the steaming beverage of caffeine—(extra cream of course), Blossom is at a loss.

It was almost the end of February, the weekend had dragged along lazily and the weather still wasn't looking anywhere near warm enough to lose the multiple layers of clothing the majority of Townsville had been adorning in order to not freeze their toes off

She can't really comprehend why she's always so drained after having a conversation with Buttercup.

It's infuriating

She's so unbelievably angry because Buttercup doesn't seem to even remotely understand the situation she'd been in because she's completely over it—

 _Excuse me, what?_

Turning the television on was a nightmare because it's _Townsville_ of all places and Blossom can't even begin to understand her complete and utter nonchalance around the entire thing

"I don't get it" Blossom mutters flatly to herself, rubbing her temples and slamming her pen down and pushing it along with her notebooks away from the laptop.

"The work?" Dexter leans over and props his head onto her shoulder, eyebrows furrowed as he studies the monitor

Blossom's expression is perplexed "What? No, I'm almost done with that"

He lets out a light laugh that has her insides fluttering "Right, right. I forgot I'm a total amateur at English literature compared to you"

She flushes indignantly "Oh please, we both know that's far from the truth"

He returns to his previous position and shrugs "Yeah, sure be humble all you want but we both know my specialty is science"

Blossom huffs before lifting the mug up towards her lips "That doesn't mean that you're bad at English"

Dexter gives her a pointed look before rolling his eyes and lifting his own mug of coffee towards his lips "Alright Blossom, what's wrong?"

She pauses, unable to meet his eyes and tries to collect her thoughts

 _Gosh darn there were a lot of thoughts_

"Blossom?" he asks again and like a thread, she snaps

"It's just, I cannot believe Buttercup!"

Dexter reels back, eyes wide and slowly began to move her beverage closer to him, concerned that his girlfriend would smack her own mug off into the sunset during her sudden tantrum

"She's just so…so—"

Better move the plate of croissants too—

"—she's so unbelievable! It's like she doesn't care at all about how she was threatened at gun point!" Blossom flares, near hysterics and Dexter can't help but wonder if a quiet café in the middle of central Townsville was a good place to let her blow up in

She suddenly groans, arms flailing and making contact with his chocolate pudding causing it to go flying and spill over her boyfriend—of course he'd forget to move the pudding

Blossom freezes, absolutely mortified "Oh my god, Dexter I am so sorry!" she scrambles to grab napkins and hands him an entire handful

Dexter hums, taking his glasses off to wipe away the dessert in amusement before reaching down and picking up the container off of the floor "Don't worry about it, it was a miscalculation on my part" he snorts "I forgot to move it"

"Wait wha—"she gawks "No! It's totally my fault! Let me buy you another one, I'll—"she's already on the floor on her knees using the remainder napkins to mop up her mess

"Blossom," he stops her, smiling lightly at her flustered state "Don't worry about it" he rolls his eyes and grabs her arms, helping her up to her feet "Just give me a minute to fix myself up in the bathroom"

She frowns immediately and Dexter can't help but sigh. She was emitting her guilt like tidal waves in the entire establishment

"Hey" he gains her attention instantly as she looks up and he returns her curious expression warmly "I'll tell you what. I have a feeling we're not going to get any assignments done for the rest of the evening" he snorts

"Let's go somewhere more reserved and you can blow up freely without any of us having to worry about you wasting food" he snickers

Her cheeks are completely flushed and all she can do is nod embarrassed beyond words while Dexter smiles once again and heads back towards the men's restroom

When she looks back, the waitress is already properly cleaning up the pudding stained floor and Blossom immediately begins to apologise profusely for the inconvenience. She's waved off as the woman just laughs before getting to her feet

"Would you like these to go?"

Blossom blinks at the uneaten croissants and brownies and finds herself nodding her head "Sorry to be such a bother" she elucidates

"Don't sweat it, Blossom" the dark skinned woman that Blossom swears she's seen working at this small, dingy café since she was in kindergarten replies. Snorting before carrying the plates towards the back of the bar to package them.

Townsville's always been so remote. So homey that she knows everyone almost like the back of her hand

There were rarely any tourists who would pick Townsville of all places to come to for a vacation. It was too small of a city and far too boring

There were no tourist attractions and the beach wasn't really that special so what would even be the point?

She supposes it makes sense

It makes sense that Buttercup's not thinking rationally and already going back to when they were in middle school as if nothing's changed because it's the only exciting thing that's transpired since when the boys had left

* * *

Bubbles hummed, grabbing the mug out of one of the top cabinets and bringing it towards the coffee machine

"Professor, do you want anything?" she asks, turning around after putting a new capsule into the machine and pressing a button

"No thanks sweetie" The Professor smiled lightly "I've got my own cup downstairs in the lab"

She nods, her lips twitching upwards "You seem less stressed these days. That's good"

"Did you have breakfast?" Buttercup asks with an eyebrow raised, voicing her question rather loudly from the living room. She was flipping through the channels while Bubbles grabbed the milk from the fridge

She stumbles upon Townsville news and the image of a reporter talking into her microphone in front of Starbucks before immediately changing the channel and finding the kids network

Bubbles stumbles and almost drops the carton but the Professor steadies her, amused

"Yeah, I've had some toast" he laughs "We've been doing pretty well as of late since the company's been bought under new management"

"That's great, Professor!"

He chuckles and grabs himself an apple from the fruit bowl "The work's a lot more demanding though," he sighs "I feel terrible for having to be out all the time"

"I call a family dinner at some fancy restaurant!" Buttercup yells from the couch room with her remote high In hand

The Professor snorts but doesn't seem that opposed to the idea "Sure Buttercup," and Bubbles perks up

"How's tomorrow night?"

Buttercup grabs her phone, idly scrolling through her social media and texts

Nodding, the Professor takes a bite out of his apple and takes a moment to swallow his bite "Tomorrow evening should be fine. Don't forget to let Blossom know once she gets back" he says before heading into the hallway.

Bubbles turns back to her coffee and nurses the mug close towards herself as she goes and grabs her fruit salad from the fridge before joining her sister on the couch in the living room.

"Can you flip back to the news channel?" she asks softly when she's put her mug down on the coffee table and Buttercup's eyes flicker towards her briefly before complying

The two stare at the screen where now the reporter was still standing in front of the café, police tape around the entrance

"Was it really that bad?" Buttercup asked with an eyebrow raised "This is Townsville, it's not like we haven't had petty bank robberies before or anything" she glanced at her phone

Bubbles hums in thought "Yeah but those are bank robberies" she starts mixing up her berries with her fork before taking a bite out of her food "No one really expected a café chain to be attacked at gunpoint I guess"

Buttercup takes a moment to digest the information and Bubbles offers her, her bowl of fruit "The whole thing is freaking bogus I tell you" she mutters, rolling her eyes and leaning over to accept a few forkfuls of strawberries and blueberries

"Somebody's feeling healthy today" she mutters at the concoction

The blonde ignores the comment and glanced back towards the television "Was anyone hurt inside yesterday?" she asked as Buttercup passed her bowl back towards her

"Dunno"

"Buttercup" Bubbles gives her a look

"The fuck am I supposed to know? No one's mentioned anything on the TV!" she defended and Bubbles sighs

"It's a miracle the Professor doesn't we were there yet"

"Right?" Buttercup snorts "I thought for sure Blossom would say something last night but she just went straight to bed after he came home"

"I feel kinda bad." Bubbles admits, stirring her food "Shouldn't we tell him then?" she looks over, frowning

Buttercup stares at her sister as if she had just announced she was going to drop out of school to become a professional cheese tester "I like living a life Bubbles."

At that Bubbles looked into the distance as if she was in the office and Buttercup smacks her arm

The two go back to watching the television and Bubbles reaches over to grab her coffee and take a long sip when she deems it's cooled down enough

"So" she begins and Buttercup already looks exasperated

"What?"

"Are we going to address the elephant in the room?" Bubbles asks slowly, voice thick with sarcasm and Buttercup gives her a look

"What" she repeats, voice deadpan

Bubbles groans and puts her now empty bowl and half empty mug back down onto the table "The boys"

"Oh. Them"

 _Okay this was going nowhere_ Bubbles wanted to throw the couch cushion at her sister's face "How'd you meet Butch again?"

Buttercup throws her hands up and groans loudly "Like I said, he literally showed up bang out of nowhere at Mitch's doorstep"

"Weird" Tilting her head, Bubbles furrows her eyebrows in confusion "I didn't think they'd know each other—well I mean I knew they knew each other" she rambles, rolling her eyes in the process "What I mean, is that I didn't think they were friends"

The raven haired teen shrugs half-heartedly "Hell if I know. Then again, I didn't know the boys were back to begin with" she begins flipping through the channels once again

"…Are you mad at him?"

"Mitch?"

"Nah, Butch"

Buttercup blinks slowly before looking at her sister annoyed "Didn't we already talk about this? I don't know!"

"But you're texting him?" she asks, tilting her head once again

Her jaw dropped in being caught at the act "Wha—"Bubbles smirked and brought the mug back towards her lips

"Ugh, alright fine" she grumbled, cheeks heated up in an angry flush "I thought it'd be good to catch up again, even if he did piss me off"

Bubbles ignores the cold feeling within her and raises an eyebrow "When did you guys even have the time to swap numbers?"

"Uhh, we didn't" She snorts "My snapchat picked up on his back at the I and he sent me his number from there this morning"

 _Oh right, technology has advanced_ Bubbles thought drily

"Why the sudden twenty one questions?" Buttercup asks, already tired of the conversation and pulling off her hair tie from her hand to tie half of her short hair up.

Bubbles shrugs "Blossom was focused on scolding my ass yesterday," she rolls her eyes "We didn't get to talk about you."

Buttercup snorts, picking her phone back up to reply to a text "Man, she's so pissed at me" Bubbles stares at her sister unimpressed

"Do you think she's still got a crush on Brick?" Buttercup suddenly asks with her eyebrows raised

"If she does, then yikes" Bubbles hisses in thought "Though, it's been literal years"

Buttercup shrugs "You never know. But I mean, I guess Dexter's more her type"

Nodding slowly, Bubbles agrees silently

Out of everyone, Dexter had the brains to keep up with Blossom—but all throughout middle school it was Brick who rivalled her in smarts.

Looking back, Blossom was naturally smart. She picked up things quicker and her brain was able to understand everything easily but Brick—

Brick challenged her. He worked for his talent whereas everything came easily to Blossom, she could recall Brick spending hours alone studying to improve and to catch up to her level

She wonders now if all that work was just to impress her

When Bubbles closes her eyes she sees a bunch of kindergarteners using her chalk to graffiti the playground of Pokeyoaks

 _It's like she's transported to the past because she feels like she can actually see Brick scribbling 'SKOOL IS D-U-M' and unintentionally breaking her red chalk in half from the pressure_

 _She can recall Blossom's smug expressions and Brick's infuriation as she corrects his spelling with an aura of confidence and pride._

 _Bubbles then wonders if Brick had bottled up his aggression from then on or if that was the moment he really began to try._

 _And she didn't mean try as in he looked over his notes from learning the alphabet—he literally took his education into his own hands_

 _He really went above and beyond what anyone was honestly expecting and it had thrown Blossom into a complete conundrum because she was so used to being the best_

For a moment no one really says anything and Bubbles starts playing with the hem of her sweatshirt "Hey,"

"What now" Buttercup can feel the need to roll her eyes to the back of her head as she stops scrolling through her social media

"How are you so okay with this?"

"Okay with what!?" she finally snaps "The boys being back?!"

"I mean the fucking fact that we were caught up in some gun fight" Bubbles states bluntly

"God, I don't know? Is it that much of a big deal?"

Bubbles looks like she wants to smack her sister with a frying pan

"We could've died"

Reaching her limit Buttercup suddenly stands up, off of the couch and started gong upstairs to grab her socks "I'm going out with the guys!"

 _Of fucking course_

Once Buttercup is out of sight, Bubbles falls face forward onto the couch. It hadn't even reached noon and she was ready for a nap

 _I cannot believe that we all ran into the boys in one day and I'm the only one affected by this bullshit_

Twenty-ish minutes later Buttercup returned and began putting her shoes on "Jesus Bubbles, at least put your shit away in the sink before you pass out"

Bubbles lets out a lazy groan, muffled by the couch cushion and her sister rolled her lime eyes "Lord have mercy, I do everything in this damn house" she muttered while grabbing the dishes

"Are you still going to finish your coffee? It's lukewarm now."

The response she got was another whine and Buttercup stared at her sister extremely done before grabbing the mug as well and placing the dishes into the sink after emptying out the liquid down the drain

"Don't forget to wash up" she reminds before washing and drying her hands and heading for the door.

Bubbles peaks up from the couch to see Butch's leather jacket over Buttercup's shoulders and her eyebrows shoot up towards the moon before the door closes

 _Holy shit no way_

She stares transfixed at the door with a sense of disbelief and dread "Oh my god, she's totally forgiven him."

 _When she closes her eyes she hears gunshots and sees the corpse of her driver._

 _She sees Boomer's nonchalance and Butch's crazed expressions while fighting_

 _But she also recognises Buttercup's desire to step back into routine with Butch and can see past her hazardous insults thrown in his direction_

 _And she can also clearly see Blossom's rosy cheeks and total awestruck expressions directed towards Brick_

They've only reunited for what, a freaking day? Bubbles realises that she's the only one who sees just how dangerous this game is

"They're both idiots" she summarises drily to herself, wanting a drink as she rolls over in the couch, completely unaware of the two beings who had occupied it the night before

"Doesn't anyone in this house fucking know that when you play with fire, you're going to get burnt?" she mutters, shuffling off of the couch and heading upstairs into her room.

* * *

"Buttercup's an idiot—actually no, they're both idiots" Blossom finally blows up and Dexter idly wonders just how she was able to keep this all bubbled up for so long

"How can they be so?!—Ugh!"

"Do elaborate" Dexter remarks drily. Half amused, half exasperated at this point

It's the late afternoon and she's half aware of how much darker it gets during the winter as they step in through the entrance of the park.

"Buttercup doesn't care and Bubbles isn't much help either! They were both at that stupid robbery yesterday and the Professor doesn't even know!"

Raising an eyebrow, the redhead male adjusts his glasses "Professor Utonium? You shouldn't hide things from him. He's bound to find out eventually"

"That's the thing!" Blossom bursts, spinning around "I wasn't trying to hide it! I don't even know why I did—"she groans into her hands

Dexter's lips form a thin line in thought "Did he even know about you three going to Mitch's party?"

She pauses, suddenly uncomfortable "He…He did but"

"But?" he presses

They're walking down the path through Townsville central park, cutting through towards a different exit and Dexter doesn't comment when Blossom nervously begins fidgeting with her coat sleeves

"I don't think he knows it was actually at Mitch's house. I think Buttercup said it was Mike's party since Mike doesn't live as far"

At this, Dexter's brows are raised high, running towards his hairline in surprise "…You guys didn't want him to know about where the party would be" he realises and she avoids meeting his eyes

"Yeah"

He exhales slowly "Blossom, I think you should tell him. I mean, he's not going to be happy about it but—"

"Buttercup would hate me" she groans into her hands and Dexter frowns

"She'll get over it"

"I know she will" Blossom mutters

Dexter's frown deepens "Blossom. The robbery was on the news. He's bound to know about it, it's not going to be long before—"

"I know!" she snaps suddenly, eyes flaring "It's not like I don't know, I do okay? I just don't want him to drop everything to stay home or something and overreact!"

Dexter finds himself momentarily startled with her abrupt outburst

"Do you know how embarrassing this is? I'm the eldest and I'm the one who's always left in charge! How's he supposed to possibly trust any of us again after all of this?"

"You're really taking this way too seriously" he says slowly, reaching out to grab her hand. They're exiting from one of the park's exits and begin walking down the street

Blossom glowers, slapping his hand away "Listen, I'm sorry and all but because of where Mitch lives, I almost got caught in some stupid motorcycle fight in the streets because no bus would come—"

His eyes widen in alarm "Wait, what—"

"—and then I end up running into this guy who I haven't seen since middle school who drove me home because no one else apparently could!" she continues, eyes watering

" _Bubbles_ was missing and I had no idea until the following morning" she hissed, hand gestures wild "and then Buttercup finds her only for both of them to end up at gunpoint—"

Dexter's jaw drops, speechless

"And then I get a phone call about them being in the police station!" she shrieks "The police station Dexter!"

He has no idea on what to do when her cheeks redden uncomfortably and tears start blurring her vision

"So excuse me for 'taking this too seriously'!" she whirls around and Dexter's struggling to form words before fumbling in his pockets for a packet of tissues and accidentally ripping the entire package open in the process

"I—Blossom, I'm so sorry" he stammers, trying to dab her tears away in a frenzy while she just snatches the tissues away from his grip and angrily wipes her tears away

"I know" she mutters, "I get it. I'm stressed and I'm blowing up on you, and I'm sorry but—"

"Blossom" He abruptly interrupts her, causing her to look up towards him with wide glassy eyes "I understand" he says softly and guilt overwhelms her because he's just so accepting and considerate and here she is combusting in the middle of a street.

"I'm sorry I pushed you" he pats her head sympathetically and her heart constricts because it's not enough "It's okay if you want to be alone"

She stares at him with her mouth slightly ajar because that is the exact opposite of what she wants right now "I'll see you in class tomorrow?"

 _She doesn't want him to leave._

"…Yeah" she nods, wiping her face as if it would make it stop burning in embarrassment "I'll see you in AP chemistry"

"Are you sure you want me to leave?" he suddenly prods and she continues to nod furiously

"Yeah, you're right. I think I just need to take a long hot bath and read something to calm down"

 _Nonono I am a complete mess right now. I don't want to be alone—why are you leaving me alone_

He smiles softly towards her and hesitates before pecking her forehead "Bye Blossom"

Blossom is speechless as she's left standing at the top of her driveway feeling empty and alone with damp, crumpled tissues as she watches him walk down her street and out of sight.

* * *

Buttercup finds that she doesn't really like the winter particularly very much when she's bundled up in layers upon layers of clothing and is left freezing her perfectly toned ass off

She's got a love hate relationship with the weather because she'll take being turned into a Popsicle over melting into the concrete any day but she fucking hates shivering like she's in a damn overdramatic soap opera.

She frowns as she's leaning against metal railings in some supermarket carpark and blows warm air into her hands, trying to seep some warmth into her bones.

"Hey Tater-tot" Butch grins wickedly from behind, pressing something absolutely freezing against the side of her face and Buttercup yelps. She's pulling away only for her eyes to land on a mc Flurry being held securely in his hands

"What the fuck—are you kidding me right now?!" she half screams, her right hand shoving him away despite his cackling while her free hand nurses the abused side of her face

"Shouldn't be letting your guard down, Princess" he shrugs noncommittedly, not even bothering to supress his glee while readjusting his hat

"Man, Fuck you Butch" she glares, making sure to document his sins and store it somewhere in the back of her head for future use.

 _She can still see his hands wrapped around Ace's throat and—_

He clicks his tongue, before toning down his Cheshire grin into a more laid back expression "You waiting for someone?"

— _but he'd only done that because she was the one in danger_

Buttercup nods, still scowling "Yeah, I'm waiting for the twins—you still remember them?" she suddenly pauses "Lloyd and Floyd?" she doesn't continue until she gets a nod out of him

"Those fuckers? Hell yeah I was over at their place every other week back in eighth grade" he snorts and the corners of her lips twitch upwards as she watches him beginning to scarf down his food

"Yeah? They've gone to get some frozen pizza and shit for dinner so I'm waiting for their asses so we can leave already to Mitch's"

Butch hums and doesn't talk until he's swallowed his spoonful "It's a big-ass store Butters, the hell you doing waiting out here for if you're freezing your tits off out here?"

"It's colder by the frozen isle and they're going to be there the entire time. I'd fucking die from pneumonia in a heartbeat if I went in with them" she mutters, eyes trailing upwards to see the joint sitting on his ear

"They're both indecisive as fuck"

Butch doesn't seem to notice her staring and shrugs "Fair enough." He takes another spoonful of ice cream before blinking as if suddenly realising she's there

"Oh shit, you want some Butters?" she's gawking at the absurdity of the question as she's suddenly being thrusted the object

"Who the fuck would want ice cream in this bullshit weather?!"

"Dunno" he shrugs uncaringly, "Not you I'm guessing" before bringing the dessert back towards him and finally taking her appearance in with a raised eyebrow

She feels heat raise towards her cheeks for unknown reasons and glares "What?!"

He smirks having reached a conclusion "Nothing Butterbutt," he takes a step back "Hold on for a sec"

Buttercup's scowling immediately "What're you—"she balks as she watches his form uninterestedly walk across the damn carpark as if he owns the place and watches a car beep at him for purposely stepping in front of it

"Oh my god" she mutters behind her palm while feeling second-hand embarrassment

She finds herself having to rebalance herself on the rail absentmindedly and watches as one of the staff from the supermarket start gathering stray trolleys that are left haphazardly around the carpark.

She stares at them sympathetically because the lord knows how cold it was and he was running around in order to put them back in their lines for the other customers.

Buttercup discovers that she can't really find the strength within her to be a Good Samaritan and help seeing as she couldn't feel her fingers, even when they were stuffed into her jacket pockets.

Her legs don't reach the concrete step from the rail so Buttercup just wills them to swing inattentively. She's rather bored.

Now she had to wait for three people

 _Fucking fantastic_

If she were smart she'd get up and walk back into the supermarket to find the twins rather than actually listen to Butch and stay put.

She's getting fucking sick of being left alone because now, she's left thinking about the day before.

Who the hell would want to remember that?

 _Butch knew how to use a gun which was fucking terrifying_

Buttercup continues to swing her legs and finds herself pulling out half eaten pack of gum. She's looking down with strands of dark hair looming over her face to concentrate in removing the rest of the wrapping.

She hadn't been taking anything seriously because in all honesty? The entire thing was a fucking joke.

She hadn't seen Butch in like what? Five years? Six? She's pissed because how the fuck is he suddenly appearing out of the blue with his brothers only to be in Townsville's infamous gang?

It feels like her arm and back are _burning_ because that's where the emblems are and she's half wanting to rip the jacket off entirely in disgust but it's _Butch's_ jacket

Idly, she wonders just when exactly her hair tie fell out.

She's freezing when suddenly she feels warm, calloused hands envelop her hair. She's unintentionally leaning into the touch but then it's gone as quick as it came and her source of heat is vanishing drastically.

She snaps her head up with wide, surprised eyes ready to throw hands because _whatthehell_

Butch smirks back at her, stepping back to admire his work. Buttercup stares feeling some warmth retaining in her scalp. She's not even realising that she's dropped her gum to raise her hands towards her head and she feels _fabric_

"Is this—is this your hat?" she asks stunned but what leaves her breathless is the cup of coffee in his hands that's being offered towards her

"Nah, it's an encyclopaedia"

The moment glitches and her unnaturally soft expression morphs back into her regular scowl "Oh, go suck my dick"

She takes the mc Donald's coffee cup away from him anyway and just stares at him but Butch pays no heed and jumps onto the rail, easily finding his place besides her.

Buttercup's eyes draw downwards, noticing that his feet actually _do_ touch that concrete step thing that the rail was attached too.

 _Huh_

Butch offers her another lazy smirk and the imagine of him with his eyes wild while looking over Ace's form flashes in her mind while he simply pulls out a lighter from his pockets.

They sit in silence for another few moments while Buttercup takes the time to gather her thoughts while Butch lights his joint before bringing it up to his lips.

"…You left to get me a drink?" she asks after she's finally able to piece together exactly just what was happening because Butch is like two totally different people—she could say three but his current state was barely any different from they were kids.

He tilts his head back after taking a long drag and their eyes meet as he exhales "Yeah"

Buttercup's cheeks heat up unintentionally "Why'd you give me your hat if you were already getting me a freaking drink?"

"Dunno"

"You're so fucking lame" She rolls her eyes and takes a sip, feeling the _warm_ "How much do I owe you?"

Butch snorts before he takes a shallow drag "Bitch that shit costs like ninety-nine cents. We're good," He licks his lips, considering "—but if you're that obsessed then get me another Mc Flurry sometime and we'll call it even" his eyes flicker to the leather hugging her briefly before meeting her eyes once again

She doesn't seem to notice, staring at the Mc Donald's logo with an unreadable expression before snorting herself "Whatever you say" and dips her head back to chug down half of the cup's contents. Relishing in the heat spreading throughout her being before smirking towards him "Hey"

Her breathe gets caught in her throat _he hurt Ace_

He blinks and turns to meet her gaze, eyes slowly becoming bloodshot

"This coffee tastes like shit"

He grins, hazy from reaching a certain high as he brings his head back "You look like shit"

Buttercup laughs "Man, fuck you" she shoves him and he's snickering along with her.

Her lips are twitching upwards and she swings her legs once again, this time with just a hint more enthusiasm in them and there's another moment of comfortable silence

He hasn't commented on how she was still wearing his jacket and she doesn't really think he's going to

"Hey," she repeats suddenly, spotting the twins leaving the supermarket with their trolley half full making a beeline for their direction on the rails.

Butch inhales his spiff one last time before returning his attention towards her expectant.

She nudges him with her foot "You wanna come with?"

* * *

Bubbles doesn't really have anything to say when Blossom walks into the house as she's busy doing the dishes.

She supposes that she probably is being somewhat dramatic about the entire thing and Blossom isn't going to go running into Brick's arms like some ginger Juliet.

 _Buttercup was a different story but she'd cross that bridge when she got there_

While Bubbles dries a plate she turns around and angles her head to gain a better view of the living room "Hey Blossom, How was your da—"

"Hi Bubbles. I'm going to go take a nap, Can you wake me up for dinner?"

She gawks as Blossom blatantly ignores her question and doesn't even wait for a response. She's already heading up the stairs and Bubbles has to strain to hear the sound of a door being shut.

 _Bruh_

Bubbles finds herself standing in front of the sink quite awkwardly with the tap still running, not really sure what to make of the situation.

Her lips automatically pull into a frown because _seriously? Is she genuinely still that mad?_

She finishes the drying the rest of the dishes before neatly placing them in the cupboards (she literally has to climb onto the counter to reach because she's that short and it's so unfair).

Pulling her phone out of her pocket Bubbles finds herself half considering calling Dexter to ask just what the hell was going on but the source of Blossom's distress was pretty fucking obvious.

She doesn't know if she's supposed to go upstairs and talk to her or just give her the time to breathe and it fucking sucks.

"Oh, fuck it" she mutters, spinning on her heel to head towards the stairs but the doorbell rings and she's pausing, her foot hanging in the air awkwardly as she gawks in the direction of the front door.

 _Damn, for real?_

This really wasn't her day

With great reluctance, Bubbles finds herself spinning around in the opposite direction and is already at the front door, yanking the front door open rather irritant.

She really doesn't have the time for this and—what the fuck she almost face plants into the ground

"Brick!?" she openly gapes towards the man standing on the other end of the door looking about as delighted to be there as a racist in a cultural festival.

"Where's Blossom." He demands, standing rigid and levelling his eyes with hers. She rolls her eyes

"Yeah hi, I'm fine thanks and you?" Bubbles drawls sarcastically

 _What the actual hell_

Brick's jaw clenches and he mentally has to count down from five "It's important. Where is she?"

Bubbles's curiosity is piqued but there's a gnawing in her chest "She's…she's upstairs in her room sleeping"

She doesn't even know why the hell she's even telling him but her feet are already moving on their own and stepping to the side to allow him into her house.

Jesus Christ she just allowed a gang member into her house

A gang member that her sister used to have a crush on

Nice

Frowning, Bubbles watches him nod towards her gruffly before heading inside and up the stairs. Her eyes follow him until he's reached the top and disappears down the hallway.

Truthfully, Brick himself doesn't worry her.

It's weird and he should but he's always been ridiculously focused on his academics rather than girls and Blossom's already dating Dexter.

But then again, she hasn't seen Brick handle a gun first hand like she had seen Butch and Boomer do. Maybe that's why she subconsciously prefers Brick's presence over his brothers, because right now she's fucking terrified.

Everything's flipped and she's left paranoid

Her uber driver had been left dead in the middle of the road in Mitch's neighbourhood and she almost wants to cry all over again.

 _Boomer didn't care—he didn't give a fuck and left him there to bleed out_

She almost feels bile in her throat and immediately pulls her jacket off of the coat hanger and grabs her shoes.

 _She needs to leave—she needs to leave right fucking now because she's suffocating_

Bubbles hears the door slam behind her and she's already walking down the road texting her friends on the cheer squad to meet up because she _needs_ to feel numb right now

* * *

Blossom's head perks up from under the covers when she hears her door being knocked and she wants to cry

How hard was it to understand that she needed a freaking nap?!

"I'M SLEEPING"

She feels her head collapse back onto her pillow and is ready to sleep her problems away but her door is being thrusted open and she's gawking at the disrespect

"Well too fucking bad Princess" Brick's voice answers and she throws the covers up immediately to sit up staring at her intruder in pure disbelief.

Her cheeks are heating up immediately in absolute embarrassment and she's bringing her hands up to fix her hair

"W-What the-?! Why are you here?!" she squawks indignantly as he storms towards her meeting her gaze levelly

"I need my jacket back"

Her mind goes blank

What

 _(I still revolve around you, nothing's changed,_

 _Look at me, look at me now it's like we're playing with fire)_

* * *

 **A/N: THANK YOU ALL FOR READING AND I APOLOGISE AGAIN FOR THE WAIT LOLOLOL. This chapter was stressful fam I almost died writing this cause I had to rewrite scenes and stuff since I didn't like anything LOL**

 **Reviews**

 **Leeful:** **You are awful at updating tho tf. LOOOL EVERY FREAKING CHAPTER YOU REVIEW IT'S JUST YOU SCREAMING ABOUT HOW BUTCH IS YOUR BIAS WRECKER OMFG. I gotta do something to make Brick more likeable before your ass gets converted Jfc. I HOPE YOU'RE TYPING UP THE NEXT CHAPTER OF MISFORTUNE BECAUSE YOU KNOW DAMN WELL I LOVE THAT FIC SMH. I EXPECT UPDATES FROM YOU SOON AMELIA.**

 **Anyway, bless your ass for reviewing. I'll be sending Yoongi to your bedroom door with a trolley full of Pepsi to appreciate yo ass. DON'T HOE AROUND TOO MUCH THO SMH.**

 **Crashdownbabe:** **I'M STILL GLAD YOU DID WELL ON YOUR PRESENTATION GIRL. YOU'RE MAKING ME PROUD! –CRIES- Shh, We'll figure out why and how Buttercup knows Ace sooner or later c;**

 **LOL the reason why Dexter's so nonchalant about Brick being back is the fact that he doesn't really know much about their past other than they were all really good friends in Middle school. I'll be sure to clear up Dexter's points of view further in the story, have no fear girlie.**

 **The next chapter's definitely going to involve Mitch so we'll see his points of view too about how Buttercup had stormed out I promise Lololol. Thank you so much for reviewing! You're literally so sweet ;3;**

 **Ti: WELL, WELL, WELL. LOOK AT WHO WE HAVE HERE! **

**Girl, you should know by now I never update during the day LOOOOL. All my writing gets done in the ungodly hours of the night because for some freaking reason I'm nocturnal as hell. GIRL YOU REALLY JUST NEED TO FREAKING SLEEP LMAO YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ MY SHIT THE SECOND IT GETS UPDATED, I ASSURE YOU.**

 **I appreciate it though. Bless your ass.**

 **Anyway, onto your review. –ahem-**

 **GIRL I KNOW, I KNOW! YOU WANT A BRICK/BUTTERCUP FRIENDSHIP SORT OF SCENE. IT'LL HAPPEN JUST BE PATIENT SMH. I GOTTA CLICK THINGS TOGETHER FOR THE PLOT BEFORE I PULL ONE OF THOSE!**

 **It'll happen I swear.**

 **Boomer and Butch interactions are my favourite to write, I'm not going to lie LOL. I love their dynamic tbh.**

 **THANKS FOR LOVING HOW I PORTRAY ALL THE CHARACTERS ILY!**

 **OH SHIT CONGRATS ON BEING MY 50** **TH** **REVIEWER GIRL! SADHAKSDJAKD!**

 **BeingCapricious: ****DSJSKAJAKSDJ THANK YOU BBY! I'M GLAD YOU'RE ENJOYING MY STORY SO FAR ILY OMG**

 **CandyLuv99** **: LMAOOOO TRUST ME GIRL I'M NOT OFFENDED AT ALL HAHAHA! Thanks for enjoying the chapter! Especially the scene with Butch and Boomer, they're scenes are always my favourite to write haha.**

 **Tbh I agree. They all need to make out and have babies already smh.**

 **Rip to the green's kids then LMAOOO.**

 **ANYWAY, THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR REVIEW! TAKE CARE LOVELIE!**

 **Rara Erza Heartfilia** **: OMGGG THANK YOU! But seriously girlie get some sleep I want you to be well rested omg. BUT YEAH, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEW AND I'M GLAD YOU'RE ENJOYING MY STORY SO FAR! TAKE CARE LOVELIE**

 **Elisa:** **Thank you so much! I'm thrilled that you're enjoying it so far! Thanks for the review and have a great day darling!**

 **Supersweetluvbug** **: YAAAA THANK YOU BBY! Sorry it took me so long for an update but I'm genuinely so relieved that you're enjoying the way that the characters are presented.**

 **Honestly? I feel like Brick himself is a ridiculously complex character so I'm glad it's showing through. I wanted him to be hard to read because out of the trio of ruffs, he seems like the one with such a complicated personality.**

 **THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE KIND REVIEW! TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF LOVELIE!**

 **Parity Air:** **GIRL WHAT KIND OF PERSON WOULD I BE IF I DIDN'T REPLY TO YOUR OVER 1K REVIEW?! YOU MAAAD OFC I'M GOING TO RESPOND TO YOU!**

 **I honestly cannot fathom how you wrote that. You're the absolute fucking sweetest and I was crying tears of joy seeing your review ngl. Thank you so fucking much for taking the time to write all of that, you're phenomenal.**

 **JUST NEEDED TO GET THAT OUTTA THE WAY! ANYWAY ONTO THE REVIEW!**

 **CHICA THEY'RE ALL THE SAME AGE SINCE THEY WERE ALL IN THE SAME GRADE IN THIS HAHAHA. They're all high schoolers c;**

 **DUDE YOUR REVIEWS ALWAYS CRACK ME UP LOOOOOOOOL 'Bubs was so worried about her hair that she hadn't realized what was happening... girl! Weave!' and 'Yass queen, Bring out your inner Rihanna!' FAM I SNORTED SO DAMN LOUD LOOOOL YOU'RE THE BEST.**

 **Honestly though, you're picking up subtleties really well. 'There's the surface expression, and there are some of their actions which contradicts slightly.' There IS some minor foreshadowing and I'm glad you're getting that.**

 **In terms of the whole 'surface expression' babe yeah. You're totally getting it. An example is where in the third chapter the blues and greens are talking about Mitch in the café and Butch is practically stabbing his cake to smithereens. Jfc look at you go! I'd give you five gold stars if I could LMAOOO.**

 **IN TERMS OF WHY BOOM TOOK BUBBLES TO HIS PLACE IT'LL BE REVEALED SOON I PROMISE! HANG IN THERE CHICA WE'LL GET THERE LMAO.**

 **AHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LIKING HOW I PORTAY BRICK! I'M REALLY FREAKING THRILLED YOU LIKE HIM! SJKASHDAKSJD!**

' **Your AU is more canon that canon fics tbh' Girl are you trying to give me a heart attack omfg I'm not nearly that good LMAOOO. BUT THANK YOU SM AGAIN!**

' **Idk who is more confusing cause Boomer is a fraud but Brick is so freaking two-faced and low key bipolar' Honestly? Ngl I snorted at this but girl you ain't really that wrong.**

 **Those years away from Townsville's really sort of fucked up their personalities a smidge but I want there to be some similarities that can be noted from how they were before to how they are now.**

 **Out of the trio I genuinely feel like Butch's the one who's got the strongest mentality out of all of them (sounds fucking crazy, I know) but not in terms of shit like academics and logic. I just feel like he'd be the hardest to break or change just because he's got such a fucking wild personality but idfk it's just my take on it LOL.**

 **Back in the original Powerpuff girls show, Boomer was reprimanded the most for shit like his smarts. In all honesty, seeing as he's Bubble's counterpart I feel like he'd care about everyone the most but he's just so fucking done at this point with everything. I think he'd be the most carefree out of the trio too, leading to his constant nonchalance in everything going on around them.**

 **Brick….Jfc where do I even start with that asshole? LMAOOO JK I LOVE HIM TOO. Brick's a complex character in my opinion. He's always been the one with the temper and I feel like he's just learned to sort of control it better over the years but it just fucking explodes when dealing with his brothers of the puffs.**

 **Regarding him being 'two-faced' I mean…sure? LMAO I CAN'T ARGUE CAUSE' RIGHT NOW HE LOWKEY IS. I'll expand on his character later on but he's known these girls for years now.**

 **Like…since kindergarten so he does in fact hold some type of compassion somewhere within him for them, despite being a master level asshole LMAOO.**

 **ANYWAY, I HOPE MY DUMBASS REASONING WAS USEFUL! THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR REVIEW GIRL BECAUSE IT SERIOUSLY MADE MY DAY WHEN I SAW IT! I WAS SHAKING THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

 **DON'T FORGET TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF ILY!**

 **Aim13** **: THANK YOU DARLING! Butch and Boomer scenes are always my favourite to write! LMAOO I'm glad you like Brick. Have no fear darling, the reds will surely blossom at some point in this! But we're going to be seeing plenty of drama and character development before that happens LMAO**

 **THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO REVIEW! TAKE CARE LOVELIE!**

 **Ash141:** **THANK YOU AGAIN FOR REVIEWING! YOU'RE HONESTLY THE BEST AND ILY FOR ENJOYING MY STORY! TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF BBY!**

 **Guest:** **THANK YOUUUUUU AHHHHH! I'm really freaking happy that you love all their individual personalities so much! I HAD A GREAT HOLIDAY THANK YOU LOOOL! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER LOVELIE! TAKE CARE!**

 **Teca.B** **: YESSSS GIRL BADBOYS ARE LOWKEY THE SHIT! LMAOO but seriously, thank you so much for enjoying the story so far! I'm glad that the violent sides of Townsville are prominent enough for you to feel something! AHHHH THANK YOU FOR LIKING HOW I'VE PORTRAYED THE RUFFS! LMAOO thanks, I feel as though the greens would click back together the fastest out of everyone.**

 **I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER BBY! THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE SUPPORT AND DON'T FORGET TO LOOK AFTER YOURSELF!**

 **KatieK102:** **Thank you so much for enjoying my story so far! I'm glad you enjoy the characters and their various personalities, I really appreciate it!**

 **Moving on to answer your questions, regarding the plotline I'm really trying to get it to flow slowly, since it's been five chapters (six if you include this one), If you ignore chapter 4 where it's a flashback chapters 1,2,3,5 have all happened in the span of a day or so. Night from Mitch's party to the morning where Blossom's realising Bubbles isn't home. The rest of the day is basically everyone finally reuniting and I didn't really want to randomly slam the plot right there just because everything's still so unclear.**

 **I suppose slice-of-life is sort of on the table? This is definitely going to be a very long story that's going to unfold and you'll be sure to learn more and more about the boy's pasts, since they disappeared.**

 **The gang emblem was sort of…purposely left out just to make the reveal sort of dramatic later on. Funny enough the next chapter does actually reveal their gang's name and more. I've sort of made subtleties along the way that'd give hints on what they'd do just for foreshadowing purposes. For example Boomer asking Bubbles where she got her drink from when he takes her to his house to Butch collecting money from Mitch's party. I know I'm being rather secretive LMAO I'll be sure to make things clearer to avoid confusion!**

 **Regarding your question on the Starbucks scene: 'when Buttercup walked into Starbucks and found Bubbles, I thought Boomer was already present. Then he made his entrance, shocked Buttercup, and apparently walked away because when Butch showed up he didn't realize Boomer was present until Buttercup mentioned him - then Boomer suddenly reappeared.'**

 **Boomer isn't standing where Bubbles is in the queue which is why Butch doesn't see him at first. Regarding Butch '"Oh my god is that Butch?!" sky blue eyes doubling in size as she saw the other raven haired teen in the queue waiting for his order' I've put Butch in the queue since he's seemingly hungry.**

 **Following, Butch goes and sits at the table joining Bubbles and Buttercup. Regarding Boomer, Buttercup had figured out about Boomer being there due to him appearing 'Boomer grins, standing beside their table with two to-go cups of coffee. "Oh hey Butters, you good?" Bubbles hides her face behind her hands in distress, Buttercup still gawking at the blond teen who went back to collect the rest of the order'**

 **Here's basically where Boomer leaves so Butch completely misses him and goes to their table once he's received his order. It's also why he's unaware about Boomer being with Bubbles. Hope that clears things up!**

 **Regarding my format, for lack of better words Yeah. LMAO I wouldn't be surprised if it's my format itself that's inconsistent rather than the website. I apologise for my grammatical errors, I'm personally pretty terrible at noticing them so I'm sorry that they've been distracting!**

 **Thank you so much for the offer! I'll honestly think about it! It's amazing that you beta stories and I'll 100% consider it and get back to you on that with a proper response one-to-one! It's just been so hectic lately I haven't really had a chance to think about it but honestly, I genuinely appreciate the offer since I cringe so bad whenever I reread my uploaded chapters and see silly mistakes/typos that could've easily been avoided.**

 **Overall, I'm really grateful that you've enjoyed my story up until now and thank you for your support! Don't forget to take care of yourself cutie!**

 **Cookiiex:** **Thanks so much! I'm glad you're loving the story and the concept! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue to read the story! Take care darling!**

 **THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING THIS CHAPTER! SORRY IF IT'S SORT OF A MESS I HAD SUCH A HARD TIME WITH IT LOOOL BUT THANK YOU FOR STICKING WITH ME THIS FAR! TILL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Guess whose back bitches**

 **CAN YA'LL BELIEVE MY LAPTOP HAD THE AUDACITY TO DELETE ALL MY FILES?! LIKE I'M NOT EVEN EGGAGERATING EVEN MY SIMS ARE GONE! MY SIMSSSSS**

 **Honestly I'm so mad, I was already basically finished with the chapter and because I'm loved by the universe so much everything went whoosh the next day.**

 **Sorry again, if this appears rushed**

 **I'm stealing** **Leeful** **'s idea of Butch taking centuries to get ready cause that shit's golden, gotta love that hoe. Alright thanks.**

* * *

 _(Can't you see what was different then?_

 _I want to hold you like you're mine)_

 _March 2018_

Bubbles can't supress her state of elation as she's sitting in a booth.

Everything feels sort of light and the dim lights are comforting

Nursing a drink in her hand, her lips find themselves unconsciously wrapping around a plastic straw as she tries to focus all of her attention on the words coming out of Robin's mouth about how Paulina Sanchez from her geography class was screeching about how her new Chanel lip gloss fell down the drain near their school.

Honestly though, yeah it was a pretty legit reason to scream and throw a tantrum over. If she had been there she would've probably cried with her. That shit isn't cheap

Everything's a good sort of hazy and she's resting her legs on her lap while half leaning against another one of her friends.

"Whose turn is it to bowl right now?" Mike asks, his arm around her shoulders so it's more comfortable for her

"I think it's Julie" Bubbles responds after taking in some sips of her drink and relishing in the warmth spreading throughout her body and gives her a pleasant buzz

One of their other friend's from the football team turns towards them and she can't really place a name to his face but she's seen him around enough "She's gone to the bathroom, do we wait or should one of us cover for her?" he says rather loudly to get his voice over the music

Robin looks towards Bubbles and she returns the look with a shrug "I suppose. It's Julie so she's not really going to mind"

"Yeah, alright I'll go take her turn and she can take mine" Robin starts lightly tapping Bubbles's leg and the blonde pouts before lifting her legs away from her lap and allows her brunette to get to her feet.

Bubbles drops her legs back down to the seat once Robin's gone and she finds herself stirring her drink with the straw absentmindedly while looking at the scoreboard

"I'm totally on fire" she says suddenly, lips curving upwards at her own mini achievement and Mike laughs. Bubbles half registers the vibrations coming from him as her back presses further into his side.

"I always thought Buttercup was the best when it came to this kind of thing but damn Bubbles," he snorts "You're actually pretty decent"

She balks, pulling away "The hell is that supposed to mean?" and he just grins widely

"That you're totally shitty at anything involving competition" he shrugs

Bubbles opens her mouth to retort but she pouts because _yeah. He's right_.

"The audacity" she mumbles, offended as Robin reappears

"You're up, Bubbly" Julie finds herself sitting at the very edge of the booth on Mike's side so Bubbles can leave easier.

With great effort, she removes Mike's arm and gets to her feet. After handing Robin her drink she takes a moment to stretch before grabbing one of the heavier bowling bowls.

"Why do you always get the heavier ones?"

"I dunno." She shrugs as she makes her way towards the lane "I just never knock down that many pins with the light ones"

They're on their last round before she really does need to go home. She's killed a few hours and finally has the tension removed from her entire being—at least, relatively

It's close to freezing outside so someone here better be giving her a ride back because _yikes._ She realises she didn't really think things through when she stormed out of the house as if it was about to attack her

Bubbles reels her arm back, holding the ball securely before stepping forward and pushing it forward

She doesn't get a strike seeing as she's two pins away but her eyes still light up when the screen flashes that she's the winner

Smug, she spins around and has her hands raised up into the air, awaiting her praises and wanting free dessert for her accomplishments.

"Holy fuck, she won" Julie blinks while Robin runs up to engulf the blonde into a hug

* * *

"Hey," Butch says in thought, unblinking as he stares at the dimly lit screen set in front of him

Almost everyone's attention is half on him and Mitch rolls his eyes "What, Butch?"

"What do you think would happen if all your senses were like….gone?" he asks, reaching over to grab a handful of popcorn from the bowl Lloyd was holding "And you know, your limbs were being removed"

"That's pretty fucking morbid" Buttercup snorts, nudging his head forward with her foot from the couch

"You're morbid. We're watching a zombie movie that you chose Butterbutt."

Buttercup's lips are uncharacteristically twitching upwards and she actually has to try to keep a straight face "Doesn't make the question any less fucked up"

"Wouldn't we just turn into them?" Mitch interrupts, thrusting his chin in the direction of the television

Butch turns his head to look up towards him "The zombies?"

"No, the Barbie dolls"

Lloyd snorted and Butch flipped him off "Dickhead"

"You know Mitch, we really need to get some extra chairs up in this bitch" Floyd says flippantly, uncrossing his legs and trying to get in a more comfortable position on the floor

Mitch rolls his eyes, wrapping his arm loosely around Buttercup as she starts refilling her plastic cup with soda "Yeah, well—"

"If you want chairs go bring some next time" Buttercup rolls her eyes and Butch flipped her off instead

"My ass is sore" Floyd says suddenly and Butch snorts

"Nice, dude"

His face morphs into annoyance and Floyd throws an empty pack of crisps at him "Fuck off, you know that's not what I meant" Butch grins as it doesn't even land on his person and Lloyd feels the corners of his mouth twitch.

"Can you guys shut up?" Mitch suddenly snaps, not removing his gaze from the television and Butch pulls a face with the twins

"Dude, what the heck's got you all riled up for?" Floyd raised an eyebrow

Mitch rolls his eyes "Nothing, I just want to watch the fucking movie already"

"The hot babe dies at the end because she sacrifices herself for that bucked tooth guy," Butch shrugs, sipping his soda "Only, that guy was cheating on her the whole time to begin with so it was a waste"

"Motherfucker." Mitch gawks

He's rewarded with a swift kick to the back of his head by Buttercup

Butch yelps, spinning around and immediately begins nursing his injured head "The fuck Buttercup?!"

"Don't be an ass" she glares and he casts her a comically disdainful look

Lloyd starts smacking Butch's knee "dudes, Shhh! Shut the fuck up right now, we're getting to the good part!"

Minus Butch, the entire group hiss at the scene

" _Rebecca, wait—no Rebecca behind you!"_

" _What? Tom I—"_

"Oh fuck" Mitch whispers as the woman's eye ball was promptly being torn out of its socket before the scene became gore infested

Butch's leg begins twitching as he stretched back so that he was leaning against the front of the couch. His fingers began drumming against the wooden floor in anticipation.

"Dude, that's so fucked up" Floyd says only to be shushed again by the collective group. Buttercup kicked his head and he yelped instantly.

"What?! This shit is gross as hell man, c'mon!"

Butch snorted but didn't say anything and leaned his back against the couch and his head fell against Buttercup's leg.

If she minded, she didn't voice any complaints

* * *

When the majority of her fellow cheerleading team and the football squad have left Bubbles finds herself almost bouncing in her seat when the waiter puts a giant sundae in front of her on the table at their booth.

She grabs the metal spoon immediately

"Hey, where are your sister's anyway?"

Bubbles sort of falters, the spoon standing upright in her ice cream "Buttercup said she was hanging out with the guys and one of Blossom's friend's showed up after her date"

Well, to be fair

 _Where is the lie though? Brick and Blossom were basically on friendly terms again_

Julie giggles "With Dexter?"

One of their friends from the football team (Victor Stone?) snorts, she can barely remember his name which is _kindofprettybad_ "Well who else would it be?"

Bubbles finds her eyebrows furrow as she remembers the state her sister was in before she had barged out of her house

Oh fuck

She left her alone with Brick

Was that even a good idea? Was the house going to be in pieces by the time she got back home?

Probably not, but Brick and his brothers were ruffians now.

Mike smacks onto the larger teen's arm, rolling his eyes "Julie's like pure. You can't bully her as much, you've gotta send it all to either Bubbles or Robin"

"Ha, ha" Bubbles says drily, taking the time to sip her drink to feel a familiar buzz. Robin just smacked Mitch's arm in response.

"Dexter and Blossom have been together for a lot longer than I originally thought" Julie admits, taking Bubbles's spoon and taking a bite of the ice cream.

Bubbles would have glared at her if she wasn't feeling the sugar start to kill her slowly but her comment has her blinking and directing her attention towards the brunette instantly

"Really?" she asks, "I always kind of thought they were sort of made for each other" Bubbles admits, tucking a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear in thought

"They're both just so…brainy" Bubbles shrugs and Mike speaks up

"But isn't that really all they've got going on for them?" he asks and Bubbles almost falls out of her damn seat

"Wait, what?"

"I mean, in common. They're both always working on homework and if they're not working on homework then they're working on something." He leans over to grab her straw and takes a few gulps in consideration

 _Damn Mike, you too? No one was loyal these days and everyone was out to steal her fucking food._

She sort of wants to frown because Dexter was seemed so sweet and genuine—even if he did seem to think social events were exhausting and prioritised his work constantly

That didn't make him a bad person

"I think they work" Robin says suddenly, taking another spoonful of her dessert

Wow, really?

Bubbles finds herself nodding along even though she's watching Robin's hand like a hawk as she brought the treat up towards her mouth.

"I'm not saying that they're bad together." Mike states shrugging "Honestly, they've been going on for what, a year now almost?" he looks towards her for confirmation and Bubbles nods again, cheeks feeling warm at the attention

"Yeah, I think it's coming up to a year"

Mike turns back towards the rest of the group and takes the spoon from Robin "All I'm saying is, from an outsider's point of view, Blossom seems a lot less outgoing now. It might not be because of Dexter and God, I don't know she could be going through some shit," he continues, taking a rather large spoonful and shoving it into his mouth

"But doesn't she seem more introverted now? It's fine if she's just overwhelmed and all but I can't really remember a time where Blossom wasn't a people person"

What

Qué?

Quelle?

Her mind short circuits

Wait, what

"Jesus guys, you better be paying Bubbles if you're going to be finishing her damn shit for her" Victor suddenly says and Bubble looks up towards him as if he was a shining beacon of hope

"You're the only real one out here"

Victor rolls his eyes "Yeah, I know now are you going to give me a damn spoon so I can try your ice cream or nah?"

The audacity

Her jaw dropped in betrayal and Julie giggles before pulling her cell phone out "Honestly though, I guess I see Mike's point"

Bubbles goes back to stirring her drink with her straw in thought "She seems happier though."

Mike raises an eyebrow towards her and Bubbles looks back up at him with a determined expression causing him to sigh, shrugging

"Alright Bubbly, whatever you say."

Suddenly, Bubbles doesn't seem so sure anymore

* * *

"Excuse me, what" Blossom asks, absolutely bewildered as she's clutching the covers in such a state of absolute confusion that even Brick can't help but feel overwhelmingly fucking stupid

"My jacket" he repeats, staring at her hard and trying to ignore her flustered expression "It's important."

Blossom genuinely can't fathom what could possibly warrant this type of nonsense at this hour all for the sake of a jacket but still swings her legs off of the bed anyway.

"What, did you get cold? She asks, making her way towards her wardrobe "This isn't going to keep you that warm you know, its leather."

"Believe me," Brick rolls his eyes before occupying himself by skimming through the photo frames on her desk along with her vast collection of literature books along the shelves "If I had the option right now I wouldn't have even bothered coming to collect it"

Blossom hums, swiftly moving items of clothing aside to grab the leather jacket off of the hanger. Her thumb traces over the emblem where the sleeve starts and her eyes

"You could've just asked me to give it back to you last night" she steps back to hand him the item with an eyebrow raised "I would've happily given it to you."

"Yeah well, I didn't think I'd need it back" he mutters, grabbing the jacket and shrugging it on.

Blossom can't help the tang of disappointment as she watches with her arms crossed unsurely. He reaches into one of the inside pockets of his jacket before his expression subtly changes and the majority of the tension in his body fades.

She doesn't really understand him

Brick's always been short tempered and so full of himself that Blossom doesn't even know what route to take in conversation when he's involved.

She just stares at him "Do you…uh, need anything else?"

He snorts, shaking his head "Nah, we're good" he brings his eyes back over to her mantle and takes in the various accomplishments hung up.

"All yours?" he asks, he gestures towards the trophies on the shelves, glancing around the room passively, with an air of superiority and her face heats up

"Yeah." she steps besides him and hums "Do you remember this one?"

On her tip toes, she reaches forward to the top shelf and pulls out a wooden plaque award, the height of an average fiction book and pulls a face at the thin trail of dust forming along the edges

"Wait, hold on" she goes and grabs a tissue from the box on her desk before wiping the entire thing clean and dust free

There was their middle school's logo etched above the plaque, where the names were engraved and she's smiling softly while showing him the front of it.

"Townsville middle school's dance class" He reads, taking the award into his own hands and traces the letters with his thumb

"Second place awarded to Blossom Utonium and Brick Jojo" he snorts "You still have this?"

"Well, clearly it's a good that I do!" Her cheeks heat up and she goes to snatch the item back into her own hands "You would've definitely trashed it if you had kept it!"

Brick resists the urge to roll his eyes "I let you take the thing home because it said second place, Utonium."

She gawks "What?! So if we had won back then you would've kept it?!"

"Who knows?" He shrugs noncommittedly "You were always more into awards and shit than I was"

The audacity

"Excuse me?" she gapes "You're the one who was so arrogant back then that even Princess Morbucks had trouble keeping up!"

Brick actually snorts at that one "Yeah, okay. Sure" He skims the certificates that were framed on the wall.

Her eye twitches and she goes back to reaching for the award "Well, at least give it back you asshole"

Blossom's completely forgotten just how ridiculously pompous Brick was and she's already reaching her limits.

"What? You've had it for like, five years and I can't hold the thing for five seconds?" he scoffs "My name is on here too if you haven't noticed"

She wants to kick him out of her house effective immediately

Her eye twitches "Alright fine, take it! Can you leave now?"

Brick regards her with a passive expression before putting the award back to its original designated area on the mantle "Always warm and friendly, huh Utonium?"

* * *

"Are we really watching all seven Harry Potter movies right now?" Mitch deadpans as Butch inserts the third DVD into the player

Buttercup shrugs, stretching her legs onto Butch's lap and snuggling under Mitch's arm "I mean, why the hell not?" Mitch's eyes flicker towards her legs before returning to the television screen

Floyd yawned "Isn't it getting close to like, dinner time? I'm fucking starving guys."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Butch pipes in, leaning down and narrowing his eyes at the tiny worn out buttons on the old DVD player in concentration before he finally locates the play button

"I'm too broke to order anything" Mitch groans

"We could make something" Lloyd suggests "Besides, it's too dark for anyone to come deliver here"

Butch hummed "I forgot about that. Pizza places still don't deliver here after dark, huh?" he snorted, letting go of the DVD player and putting it back down onto the ground "Dude, why is this thing so far from the TV?" he turned to Mitch

Mitch shrugged, eyeing the DVD player and kicking it slightly closer towards where the TV stand was "I got lazy having to get up to insert a disk"

Buttercup played with the hem of her shirt "Is there even anything in the fridge at all to make?"

"We already used up the pizza we bought" Floyd blinked "Why do you think we went to the supermarket in the first place? This place never has food"

Mitch chucked a cushion at his head "Excuse me for being poor" he pouted

"Dude, get a job" Butch rolled his eyes, ignoring the glare from the other teen "Alright kiddos, listen up," He cleared his throat

"Let's go rob a supermarket"

His suggestion was met with a room full of blank stares

"You want to…rob a store?" Lloyd asked with his hand raised for clarification

"Yeah, preferably a Target cause Walmart ain't shit" he nodded and gestured towards the door

Buttercup immediately smacks a couch cushion against his face

"No"

"What the fuck, why not?!" he gawked

"We're not breaking the law" she snapped, smacking him another three times for good measure and Butch whined

"Alright, alright!" he snatched the cushion away from her and glared "Sheesh"

Floyd groaned into one of his own cushions on the floor "I'm going to bloody starve!" he whined and his brother kicked him

Mitch rolled his eyes and pulled away from his girlfriend to walk into the kitchen "Alright dumbasses, let's see what we can work with"

Lloyd eagerly got up from his spot and trailed after him as Mitch opened the fridge door and stared at the loaf of bread sitting on one of the shelves

"So we have bread" he called out and Butch snorted, turning towards Buttercup and mouthing ' _supermarket robbery'_

Buttercup resumed smacking him with a cushion

"Dude, there's not even milk in here" Lloyd groaned "Did you mom not have a chance to go shopping or what?"

"She's working" Mitch shrugs before shutting the fridge door after deeming its contents useless and opened the freezer's door instead

"Uhh….we have expired garlic bread" he grabbed the pack in disgust

"Jesus Mitch, throw that shit away!" Lloyd gasped, horrified

From the floor back in the living room, Floyd moaned into his cushion in despair "I'm going to starveeeee"

Buttercup stretched her leg and kicked his side from the sofa "shut up"

"Yeah," Mitch stared at the freezer with a noncommittal shrug "Sorry, but we're eating air for dinner tonight"

"Oh, my favourite" Lloyd commented drily as they both re-entered the living room

" _Supermarket_ " Butch sang and Buttercup glared at him

Floyd groaned and rolled onto his back "Guys, this might be the end for me"

"Ugh, alright, alright!" Buttercup snapped, getting out of her seat on the couch "I'll go to taco bell or something and get us some food"

Butch stretched and cracked his joints "I'll drive"

"Thanks Butters!" Floyd sat up immediately and beamed up at her, he grabbed his wallet and pulled out a few dollars for her and Lloyd sighed and did the same

"Life-saver"

Mitch walked towards them "I'll come with you guys"

Both Butch and Buttercup stared at him and Mitch frowned "What?"

"Dude I drive a motorcycle" Butch swung his keys around

"…Oh shit, yeah huh?" Mitch blinked in realisation before turning towards Buttercup

"Babe, it's okay if you want to stay here and finish the movie. I'll go with Butch to get the goods"

Butch grabbed his shoes and began putting his sneakers back on as Buttercup shifted her weight from one foot to the other in thought

"Nah, its cool." she shrugged "I've already got the money and shit."

Butch stared at them all "You idiots do realise we can all still take the bus right? We don't all necessarily have to eat here you bunch of dickheads"

They all just blink at him and Butch raises an eyebrow at the four of them

"…Man we all dumb as hell" Mitch deadpans

* * *

It's not only after Brick has left her house after spending another hour there does Blossom Utonium realise that he's actually gone and left the freaking jacket he came back for on her couch sofa.

Blossom stares at it for a good ten seconds halfway down the stairs as her mind short circuits

"Are. You. Freaking. Kidding. Me?!" she gawks before racing down and snatching the item off of the couch and yanks the front door open with such strength she's almost afraid that she'll rip the thing off of its hinges

"BRICK JOJO, ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Blossom shrieks as she's sprinting down the street like some gold medal Olympian in her slippers—her freaking pink, fluffy _slippers_ of all things as she watches the cause of all her problems step out of a convenience store

For his part, Brick looks extremely flabbergasted and the lit cigarette almost falls out of his mouth from the way his jaw drops at the scene of Blossom Utonium racing towards him horrifyingly fast

"Uh…can I help yo—" he doesn't get to finish his sentence and barely has enough time to pull his cigarette away from his mouth as she thrusts the leather jacket into his face in frustration

"You!" she begins, "You come into MY house, interrupt MY nap to demand for your jacket back, and then have the AUDACITY to forget the stupid thing on MY living room couch?!" she seethes, practically breathing fire and he just pulls the material off of his face stunned

"…Okay, so I didn't really need the jacket itself" he says slowly, half amused and the rest of him is somewhat sympathetic "Just needed my USB for class"

Blossom stares at him blankly and Brick just stares back

"What—"

He's met with a slipper being chucked at him "That's it!?" she screeches

She spins around on her heel, already marching back home in frustration, absolutely done with the day but Brick reaches out and grabs her hand

"What now!?" She snaps, glaring at him

Brick narrows his eyes at her, already losing his patience "Your slipper. Do you want to fucking cut your foot or some shit?"

"My house is like, three streets down" She scoffs at him "I wanted to get a new pair anyway" she yanks her hand away and very gracefully manages to step on a glass shard and shrieks, immediately hopping on her now only good leg as she goes to inspect the damage

"You did not—"Brick stares In disbelief "You did not just fucking do that,"

"Shut up!"

"You did not just fucking cut your foot after I just told you, you would if you didn't put your shoe back on"

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!"

Tears start prickling from the corners of her eyes and she's already starting to lose balance from being on one foot and Brick just sighs, grabbing her arm and pulling it over his shoulder to support her weight

"You're such a piece of work, Utonium"

She sniffs, displeased "Shut up."

Begrudgingly, Brick manages to maneuver her across the road and onto a bench before bending down on the ground to inspect the damage.

Blossom's eyes are tightly shut "If you're going to take the glass out Brick," she got out through clenched teeth "I suggest you do it now"

Red orbs flicker upwards to meet her face before going back to her foot "I'm gonna need to get you a bandage or something—shit Blossom, this is the dumbest way to get injured ever." He was literally stunned

"I think you're going to need some small stitches or something for this shit. It's in fucking deep and if I take that shit out you're basically going to bleed like a motherfucker" he summarised, unimpressed

"Stop" She inhaled "swearing!" exhale

Brick's lips twitched upwards and he sighs, resting his chin against his fist as he makes up his mind "Alright Princess, let's go for a ride."

* * *

Her mind's sort of woozy while Mike bends and zips up her jacket for her while they're standing at the bus stop

Robin yawns rather loudly besides them "I should've stayed in bed. It's too fucking cold to have gone bowling"

Bubbles nods slowly, and shoves her hands into her coat pockets "I'm freezing"

Snorting, Mike moves to the side and pulls his hood up "It's because you both wore thin clothing" he motions towards Robin's leggings and she gawks, offended

"In my defence—it was sunny during the day"

Bubbles snorts, half paying attention as she takes in the dimly lit streetlights and passing cars wondering why she has to feel so much.

Honestly, she was so dramatic she ended up storming out of the house just because Brick showed up—

"Bubbly, you good?" Mike asks, nudging her with his elbow against her arm and her eyes meet his immediately

"Yeah" it's so cold she breathes out vapour and Bubbles watches it fade away almost instantaneously

"I just really, really want my bed" she sighs out and Robin laughs

"Good timing actually, your bus is here" the brunette gestures towards the dark blue bus stopping by the traffic lights and Bubbles feels her entire body relax

"Oh, thank God" she mumbles and the trio watch as the bus pulls over to where the bus stop is

"Night Bubbles" Mike says before narrowing his eyes at her "Don't pull that bullshit disappearing act on us again"

She actually has to will her mouth to smile "Yeah, I promise"

Tapping her bus pass against the card reader, Bubbles makes her way down and a seat by the window, waving towards her friends as the bus begins to move again.

The heat radiating from the inside is a relief and the sigh that escapes her is half bliss and half exhaustion weighing in.

She doesn't actually know what she wants

Her eyes slip shut and her shoulders relax as she leans her head against the window

Bubbles didn't actually expect any of them to keep in contact from yesterday. In all honesty, she thought they'd never see each other again unless it was from awkward run ins in the grocery store.

It wasn't like Townsville was huge or anything.

But Brick's willingly come to see Blossom and Buttercup's enthusiastically involving herself with Butch.

It wouldn't be that much of a terrible thing if they hadn't joined Townsville's most notorious gang. She's seen them run around in Mitch's neighbourhood.

They're loud and toxic and cause everyone problems.

She didn't really mind them as much, but that might've been because even though the gang is somewhat famous—they're mostly run by teenagers and young adults who probably don't know what they're doing.

The problem is however,

Bubbles has seen a man die right before her eyes and she doesn't think she can ever get over that image—

Then again, it might've not been as traumatic if Boomer Jojo wasn't the one who had shot him

* * *

Buttercup kicks Mitch's leg from under the table when he makes an attempt to steal one of her fries

"No" she deadpans and Butch snorts rather loudly

Mitch pouts at her and Floyd sighs "You guys have been dating for how long exactly?"

"Almost…three years?" she turns to her boyfriend for confirmation while Butch bangs his ketchup against the table rather loudly to get the sauce to go down before opening the lid and squirting it onto his fries

"Yeah, three in May"

"…And you still try stealing her food? Buttercup Utonium's food?" Lloyd deadpans, while Floyd looks unimpressed

Mitch shrugs "Can't blame a guy for trying." Before he takes a large bite out of his burger

Butch finds himself indulging In his second McFlurry of the day and Buttercup stares at him in disbelief

"How the fuck—"

"See this Butters?" he interrupts her, flicking some of the ice cream across the table by flicking his spoon "This is the food of the gods"

Mitch stares at the small puddle of dessert on the table with a grimace "Kind of gross, dude"

"Pish-posh" Butch dismisses him and nudges his ice cream towards the raven haired teen sitting beside him

"It's fucking freezing—"

"Don't be a pussy" Butch rolls his eyes and everyone's eyes bugged out at the audacity

Floyd was the first to recover "Dude, it's just ice cream—"

Buttercup snarls and snatches the tub before digging the spoon back in and taking out a large spoonful to indulge in.

Besides her, Butch looks delighted by her reaction and grabs her fries while she's too busy devouring his dessert

"Oh fuck—" she groans, dropping the ice cream immediately to cradle her head "Brain freeze, ugh"

Mitch passes her his bottle of water and she greedily gulps down half of its contents before slamming the bottle against the table so hard one of the employees gives her a look.

She glares at Butch who smiles back all shady "Fuck you"

Butch snorts and licks his lips "Don't threaten me with a good time Butterbutt"

Both Mitch and Buttercup smack him while Lloyd records the entire thing on snapchat

They end up getting kicked out for being too loud but Buttercup's finding that she's not genuinely mad.

* * *

Blossom wants her boyfriend

She needs someone calm, someone rational, someone whose sane preferably.

"I can't believe this is happening to me right now" Blossom deadpans with a bandage wrapped around her foot.

Brick just yawns, unfazed as the Doctor comes back and prescribes Blossom her pain killers

See, what she needs is someone who's actually concerned about her wellbeing but she's stuck with Brick Jojo of all people

"I really don't understand why you were out barefoot in the first place, Miss Utonium" The doctor frowns, as the prescription finishes printing and she signs it before handing it to her

Blossom colours "Believe me Ma'am it won't happen again"

The doctor sighs but offers a thin smile "Take two of these pills every four hours or so. It says so on the back of the box but exceed the amount written within a day. If you cut reopens and starts bleeding, come see me immediately."

Blossom swallows thickly but nods her head in affirmation "Of course. Thank you"

Besides her, Brick snorts while scrolling through his phone and it takes all of her willpower not to roll her eyes

See, this is why Dexter should be the one besides her because at least he would've taken her seriously.

She doesn't even see why Brick's here in the first place if he's going to be so indifferent about the entire scenario.

What an asshole

Her lips are pulled into a tight line and she's hellbent on avoiding eye contact with the guy as they're excused out of the room and out of accident and emergency.

Brick brings his wrist up to his line of vision and his apple watch lights up. If he's noticing Blossom's sudden sour mood he doesn't mention it "It's almost eleven o'clock"

"What?!" She spins around immediately, eyes wide "Already?!"

 _Why on earth_ did she leave her house

"You seem surprised" he deadpans, and she's unknowingly allowing him to lead her out of the building

"I wonder why" she mutters, rolling her eyes with a permanent scowl on her face

Okay, maybe she doesn't actually want her boyfriend

But she sort of does.

It's all a bit blurry now because god bless him, he was so incredibly sweet and smart—but lord Jesus was he daft

There's a sudden half of her wondering if Dexter is where some of her frustration is coming from—maybe that's why Brick's suddenly ten times more insufferable than usual

"Do you need help?" his question smacks her in the face and she's looking up in surprise

Her bad mood is suddenly replaced with confusion "With what?"

His eyes trail down towards her foot and she's hit with the knowledge that she's been walking more awkwardly than usual "Oh"

Her mind is suddenly working unbelievably slow

Yikes

"No, I've got this" she offers a small smile because—as annoying as it is, Brick isn't really the source of all of her frustrations

She's just sort of letting it all tumble out in anger towards him and it's probably somewhat unfair

Brick regards her passively, and she knows he doesn't believe her but doesn't say anything further as they walk out of the hospital.

* * *

 _March 2013_

"The hell are we doing up at this hour?" Butch yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes before glaring beadily towards his brother "It's a Saturday"

"Butch, its ten o'clock" Boomer deadpanned and Butch gasped loudly before spinning around to face the clock

"It's not even noon-thirty!"

"…Noon-thirty?" Boomer stared "You're so lame, dude. That's not even a legit thing" he then shoved his older brother into the bathroom "go get pretty, and we're leaving before Brick comes home!"

Butch gawked "He's going to be home in like, half an hour!"

"Yeah, and?" the blond tilted his head, not understanding the problem as he slammed the door shut

"That's not nearly enough time to fix my hair!" shrieked the voice from the bathroom

"Too bad bitch"

Butch grumbled as he stepped into the shower, highly offended

* * *

Stepping off of the bus In front of Townsville mall, Boomer licked his lips and started making a beeline towards the automatic doors.

"C'mon hoe,"

Butch stared, already exhausted of the abrupt field trip his brother had kindly decided to bestow upon him in the wee hours of the morning.

"Did I miss something?" he asked, annoyed as he began to walk in step with Boomer "Did Mojo give us some advance in our allowance or some shit cause I'm pretty fucking sure that I would've been there for it, Boom"

Boomer rolls his eyes, "Look Butch," he thrusted his jaw towards the large picture of models in lingerie as they walked by Victoria's Secret

"Wait what—"Butch froze immediately in front of the glass window to openly goggle while Boomer snorted and continued walking past him

"If I don't date a girl that hot by the time I'm in college, then there's something wrong with the world we live in" Butch muttered staring at the bright faced brunette hugging onto a satin pillow before looking around him and blinking

"Aye yo Booms, wait up!" Butch gawked at his brother's retreating figure

Boomer grinned as he leaned against the glass on the escalator going up while watching Butch catch up to him "Dude, you're like a dog in a meat shop"

Butch shrugged, undisturbed "So I have taste, sue me."

"Boy, sit your ass down and watch some adventure time or something"

Rolling his eyes, Butch hopped off of the escalator and walked besides his brother "Sure Boom, let me just pull out a plasma screen TV from my jeans pocket along with a recliner"

"Yeah, you go ahead and do that"

"Man, fuck off" Butch scowled before almost tripping over his feet as Boomer came to a sudden halt. He blinked his green eyes up towards the store

"We're at a clothing store?"

"Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner folks" Boomer responded drily before walking inside and made a bee-line towards the men's section.

Butch stared before shrugging and went to the rack near where Boomer was "Is it Mojo's birthday or something?"

"Butch this is March. Dad's birthday isn't until like, June"

"Oh, for real?" Butch blinked, seeming genuinely surprised "I guess that makes sense actually."

Boomer chooses not to comment on that "Butch, why don't you go check out the sunglasses or something?"

Squinting, Butch regards his brother suspiciously "The heck? Why, what are you gonna' do?"

He smiles "Wing it"

"That's not very fucking reassuring" Butch deadpans but throws his hands in up mock surrender and makes his way to the accessories.

 _(I know you'll feel the ghost,_

 _Of some memories so warm)_

* * *

 **A/N:….Yeah, I'm sorry. This is all I've got for now.**

 **First of all, I'm so sorry if this chapter is a disappointment, originally, this chapter was around 8-9k long and was a lot more informative so this chapter may just feel like a filler. Again, I'm sorry but**

 **MY WINDOWS LAPTOP DELETED EVERYTHING LOLOLOL**

 **It's so amazing, I always wanted to have everything I love turn to dust (((((:**

 **Anyway, uh this chapter was supposed to reveal their gang name and all that lovely stuff but the universe said 'not today' so rip I had to make do. I didn't want ya'll to wait any longer so I just said "fuck it"**

 **I PROMISE THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE MORE INFORMATIVE**

 **Reviews**

 **Leeful:** **GO AWAYYYY IT'S NOT MY FAULT MY WORLD COLLAPSED. Anyway, OFC THEY DID, WE'RE BASICALLY BUTCH AND BOOMER. Ngl, we should go as them for Halloween this year. Rip to Brick, even though he's your bias.**

' **without you as the author of playing with fire it would have been shit' Lia, without me I don't even think this fic would have existed LMAOOOO. You egg head.**

 **ALSO, WAIT HOLD UP! WHAT ABOUT MISFORTUNE!? WHERE IS THE NEXT CHAPTER?! I'VE BEEN SITTING HERE FOR EONS WAITING TF.**

 **The audacity. I've been here desperate for updates and you're over there drinking gallons of pepsi even though you're not supposed to smh.**

 **ANYWAY, THANKS FOR REVIEWING HOE! I'M GLAD YOU LIKED THE REDS LMAOOO EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE INSULTED BY BRICK'S ASS.**

 **MeiganK:** **Thank you so much for reviewing and enjoying the chapter! I'm so sorry it took so long for me to update! Regarding your review, yeah. Buttercup accepting Butch this early was really a plot twist no one saw coming.**

 **The reason behind Bubbles being more mature is purely do to the fact that she had actually been there and saw the damage they could do (well, Boomer). While her and Buttercup were both at the Starbucks when the Gangreen gang attacked, no one was actually killed.**

 **Buttercup's experience wasn't nearly as traumatising as Bubbles's was with her cab driver.**

 **Blossom on the other hand is…yeah, she's full of emotions LOL. I think being the oldest, and typically the most mature has put a lot of expectations on her over the years and it's sort of becoming her undoing. She's sort of a mess but we love her all the same.**

 **THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE REVIEW! TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF LOVELY!**

 **Ash141:** **Thank you for reviewing and reading the story! I'm really glad you're still enjoying the story! Regarding your review, yeah. Bubbles is honestly facing a dilemma since she feels alone in this, Buttercup's refusing to talk about it and wants to bottle up her feelings and Blossom just wants Dexter to be the one to comfort her but he's just so sweet but so dense.**

 **Ugh. Poor Blossom. Anyway, thanks again for the review! Don't forget to take care of yourself lovely!**

 **Rustycharms:** **Thank you so much for your kind words and review! I'm glad you're loving the story so far and I'm sorry it took me so long to update it!**

 **Crashdownbabe:** **Oh my gosh, thank you so much for reviewing once again! I'm so happy that you're still enjoying my story!**

 **Regarding the 'We don't speak of the other one' That's Boomer and Buttercup implying Butch LOL. Blossom would've been much more useful to be around in class.**

 **NONONO MY BAD IT WAS A HOUSE! I just put apartment and corrected it immediately! Thank you for catching that because my dumbass didn't!**

 **I feel as though since Bubbles went through all this trauma she's the only one whose feeling wary about the whole situation, despite how close their friendship group was back in middle school.**

 **Regarding Butch, I really put that scene bang out of nowhere. Like no plan, I just thought he'd love ice cream and wouldn't really give a shit about the weather.**

 **Lets just assume he doesn't feel any pain like your friend's kid. Perfect.**

 **THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ENJOYING THE STORY THUS FAR! IT'S ALWAYS A BLESSING SEEING YOUR REVIEWS OMG**

 **Dexter and Mitch are going to be reoccurring characters so we will see more of their points of view and such eventually!**

 **YAYAYA THANKS FOR BEING ON THE RIDE! Don't forget to take care of yourself lovely!**

 **Siah1:** **FIRST OF ALL, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ENJOYING THE STORY AND TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE SUCH A KIND REVIEW!**

 **I really did want to dwell more into the ruffs side of things, and go more into detail about the gang but my laptop—my laptop just loves me so much you know? It just thought to delete . .had**

 **It was great**

 **I wasn't upset at all**

 **But enough about that! I'm thrilled you love all the characters and the story so far!**

 **Regarding Lloyd and Floyd, they're actually real characters from the original Powerpuff girls cartoon. They're just really minor but they were in the girls Poaky Oaks class!**

 **Honestly though, yeah, The Professor and Mojo are a lot huh? They're parents but they can only do so much. Bless them.**

 **I had to add the friendship! They all went to school together and were basically always around each other, I thought that it wouldn't make nearly as much sense if they all didn't have their friendship moments with each other.**

 **DON'T APOLOGISE FOR RAMBLING, I LOVE YOUR RAMBLING LOL. Reading your review made me super happy so don't ever apologise for it!**

 **AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING AND I'M SORRY IF I DIDN'T ANSWER QUESTIONS OR ANYTHING I'M LIKE SKIM READING RN TO GET THIS CHAPTER UP BUT I SWEAR I REREAD THIS REVIEW LIKE TWELVE TIMES WHEN IT WAS FIRST PUBLISHED!**

 **Supersweetluvbug:** **Thank you so much for enjoying the story and reviewing! Honestly, everyone's just stressful huh? LOL. Buttercup's ignoring what happened, Bubbles needs to talk to someone, Blossom's having a dilemma and wants her boyfriend whose lovely but dense as hell when it comes to love.**

 **LOLOLOL, Honestly, as weird as it is Brick really did need his jacket. I swear.**

 **Butch has always been a sweetheart shh. He's the best.**

 **BTS Forever Young:** **LMAO I'M SORRY. Brick's character interests me too and I'm the one who wrote it LOL. Sorry for such a late update lovelie, but I'm glad you're enjoying the story!**

 **QuentionyTheQuestionMark:** **Dude, first of all your username is like, the best thing I've ever seen. LOL, anyway thank you so much for enjoying the story so far! Honestly, Blossom's adorable in the first chapter, my brain's a mess 24/7 though so that's the only difference. AND THANK YOU AGAIN! I really wanted them all to be friends! I feel as though since they hang around each other often they should, realistically speaking have time together. It just seems more natural to me. BUT THANKS FOR YOUR REVIEWS! Take care of yourself lovely!**

 **N. Risa/ Parity Air:** **GIRL YOU'RE BACK AT IT AGAIN OMG. THANK YOU FOR YOUR LONG ASS REVIEW AND KIND WORDS THAT MAKE ME CRY TEARS OF JOY EVERYTIME I READ THEM!**

 **Okay! So firstly, yeah. The girls and boys are roughly the same age so they were all in the same year group back in middle school. They do all currently go to high school and are in their final year (senior year for all the Americans).**

 **You'll notice flashbacks throughout the story to when they were kids and knew each other well in middle school and I'll put the date up saying '2013' for Middle school and '2018' for present time. I hope that clears things up a bit!**

 **Oh my gosh, don't ever apologise! It's always so sweet whenever you review and I literally re-read your reviews like eighty times and scream. It's not even funny, like thank you.**

 **LMAOOO it's fine! Originally, I did have reasoning as to Boomer's random kidnapping scene with Bubbles but uh…my laptop doesn't like me so yeah, next chapter I'm afraid.**

' **My head canon has always been that Boomer is a meat monster' girl yes, I live for that. Though, personally I feel as though that's more of Butch's territory and Boomer just eats whatever's good enough for his taste buds. He's not picky per say, but it's more to do with the fact that he doesn't believe Butch should be in the kitchen.**

 **LOOOL I'M SO GLAD YOU GOT THE REFERENCE OF MOJO BEING A MONKEY IN HIS PAST LIFE. I love you LMAOOO.**

 **With Boomer being to get away with calling Brick 'Little miss hothead', I feel as though he's somehow developed the ability to get away with this more often, but Butch just gets smacked every time. Poor Butch, I love him to death but Brick doesn't seem to smh.**

 **I'm so glad you like the relationship between Blossom and Dexter! I mean yeah, ultimately this is going to without a doubt end in reds, blues and greens but I don't really hate Dexter?**

 **I grew up watching his cartoon so seeing all the stories with him as the bad guy kind of had me at a 'Well, guess what I'm not going to do' situation.**

 **You're really perceptive and picking up literally everything omg I love it. Yeah, their relationship was exactly based on what you're saying. Mutual respect and interest played a huge part in the two getting together!**

 **SADSAJDJKLASDJ THIS IS YOUR FAVOURITE PPG STORY?! Girl Nononono this fic is a pure mess LOL. THANK YOU THOUGH FOR PUTTING UP WITH IT AND SAYING THAT!**

 **You know, I've thought of a lot of ways to describe this fic and mellow wasn't one of them but that's really fucking cool. Thank you!**

 **Girl no, theories are the best. I love reading them, it just makes everything so much more interesting!**

 **When I was first writing this I didn't feel as though any of the characters were that canon to be honest. It's such a freaking relief that you feel so strongly about them being canon! You have no idea how paranoid I was about it.**

 **Regarding Boomer, the majority of fics I read with him sort of just…bored me? I don't know, they just made him seem so unlike how he was in the cartoon that I really felt the need to do something about it.**

 **His character in the cartoon was whiny and followed his brothers but I wanted to sort of…make him more?**

 **It's the same with the rest of the characters tbh, I just wanted a more modern, upgraded version of them.**

 **BUTCH IS SMOOTH AF MAN, EVEN IF HE IS A LIL SHIT DON'T ME**

 **Buttercup's views on Ace were supposed to be in this chapter. Ugh. Next chapter, I promise it'll tie together better.**

 **Though, I will say that she really is ignoring her problems. It's not healthy smh.**

 **THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU! IT'S CRAZY HOW MUCH YOU LIKE THIS STORY, IT'S HONESTLY CRINGY TO ME—not you, the story. The story makes me cringe, you're just a piece of sunshine dw. But yeah. Thank you for enjoying the story! I feel as though it should be better though, I'm really honoured you're so into it!**

 **Regarding the last scene with our favourite boy Brick, he did have a genuine reason for needing the 'jacket' back. Blossom's just kind of done with him though LOL.**

 **THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE AMAZING REVIEW! I'M SORRY IF I DIDN'T GET TO ANSWER EVERYTHING AND I LOVE YOU! PLS TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF LOVELY!**

 **Hoe:** **Amelia, stop**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Another update after 1224827 years. I'm on a roll folks**

 **Disclaimer again, this entire story has violence, mentions of drugs/substance abuse, uh harsh language? Adult themes? Some death? A lot of things I don't recommend doing?**

 **Just don't read this if you're ten pls lmao.**

 **ALSO! For those of you who like to skip the end author's notes, I DO REPLY TO REVIEWS AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER! Okay? Cool, gracias, lets move on.**

 **Shout out to** _ **Leeful**_ **and** _ **Ti**_ **for constantly yapping at me to update since I'm horrible. Ily both even though you're both a pain in the backside**

* * *

 _(Making mistakes that were made for us,_

 _We brushed them off like paper cuts)_

 _March 2013_

 _Butch finds the display of sunglasses Boomer's directed him to remarkably fascinating all of a sudden._

 _Glancing towards the tills he snorts at the size of the growing queue. "This place is busy as hell for such an ungodly hour" he mutters, rolling his eyes in disbelief._

 _He's sifting through the rack absentmindedly while Boomer browses the winter clothes, eyes flickering towards the queue and then back towards Butch before he grabs two different jackets by the hanger in contemplation_

" _Aye Butch!" he calls, walking towards his brother_

 _Butch perks up, spinning around in a pair of bright pink sunglasses in question as Boomer holds up the two different articles of clothing, unfazed by his brother's fashion choice_

" _Which one looks better?"_

 _Butch lowers his sunglasses and grabs one of the hangers, spinning the thick jacket around to scrutinise it before motioning for the other jacket._

 _Raising an eyebrow, Boomer obediently hands him the jacket and watches as his brother narrows his eyes in contemplation_

" _This one"_

 _He holds up the bomber jacket and Boomer's lip twitches upwards in amusement "Nice to see that you have taste"_

 _Butch blanches at his brother and gawks "I've always had taste!" Boomer rolls his eyes and goes to put the rejected article of clothing back on its rail neatly_

"… _Did you seriously just put that thing back in size order?" Butch snorts, still adorning his neon sunglasses and admires himself in one of the mirrors on a pillar by the stand_

 _Boomer's eyes almost roll to the back of his head "Duh. I'm not an animal, Butch" he said, neatening the arm full of jackets before he pulls the thick black jacket off of its hanger "Here, hold this for me" he chucks his actual jacket towards him_

 _Butch just shakes his head, catching it before heading back towards the accessories_

 _This is the stupidest thing I've ever thought of_

 _Walking towards the changing rooms, Boomer shrugs off his jacket and pulls the new one on while examining himself in the mirror on a wall outside the rooms._

 _He heads towards the till, shrugging the coat off and ignores the large line and heads towards one of the employees who wasn't serving "Excuse me," he waits patiently for the teenager a few years older than him to pop her head up in question_

" _Sorry," he begins "Do you mind de-tagging this for me for a sec?" he holds up the jacket and grins "It keeps digging into my arm"_

" _Oh! Yeah, of course!" she smiles brightly and takes the item from him before finding the tag and pressing it against the magnet before taking the tag off and handing him the jacket back "Sorry about that!"_

 _He grins brightly "Seriously, don't worry about it!" he goes back towards the mirror and does the whole act of putting the jacket back on and checks out the pockets_

 _I'm going to get caught, sent to jail and Brick's going to have to end up working as a damn stripper to support this stupid family while Butch works as a goat farmer somewhere in the Alps_

 _Despite his internal dilemma, Boomer's posture's relaxed and his eyes follow the employee he had seen earlier head towards a store room and moves towards where Butch is by the hats_

" _Hey, perfect timing" Butch calls out when his brother draws near and Boomer raises an eyebrow towards him "What's up?"_

" _Do you think I could pull of a beret?" he looks deadly serious as he holds up two different styles of the hat and Boomer suddenly wants to throw himself into the sun_

"… _Actually yeah"_

 _Butch beams and tries on beret and regularly switches it for the other one in inspection as he stares at himself in one of the mirrors_

 _Boomer's eyes flicker around him before dropping to the knees and faking examining some wallets before ripping the price tag off of the jacket and scrunching it up in his hand before putting it into his pocket_

" _So which one?" Butch suddenly asks, spinning round to his brother in uncertainty_

" _Dude I don't know—"Boomer rolls his eyes before motioning for him to put on each of the hats in front of him_

" _The second one"_

 _Butch blinks "For real?" he turns back round to the mirror, leaning in and narrowing his eyes "I don't know…" he strokes his chin and Boomer just looking into one of the security cameras as if he's in the office_

" _Alright fine, get the first one"_

 _That sends Butch into another state of conflict "Really? But the second one looks pretty rad too"_

 _Boomer really wants to throw his brother down the escalator. Snatching both the berets out of his hands he storms towards the line and mutters about how easier life would be as an only child_

" _How much even are they?" he asks absentmindedly when Butch catches up and he shrugs "Dude, I don't know. I wasn't going to actually buy them—"_

 _Boomer feels a headache coming along_

"— _and how long are you planning on making me hold this fucking thing?" Butch narrows his eyes towards him but Boomer just steps on his foot before walking towards the cashier once the customer in front of him leaves and places both the hats down onto the counter_

 _The cashier raises an eyebrow towards them both before scanning their items "Would you like a bag with that?"_

 _He's about to say no but shrugs "Yeah, please"_

 _Butch blinks "Wha—dude we can just both wear one each!"_

 _Boomer finds himself stepping onto Butch's foot automatically this time and he yelps, gawking at his brother_

" _Can you believe the abuse I deal with?!" He turns towards the cashier, indignant_

 _The cashier just blinks "Uh…so do you want a bag for life for a dollar extra?"_

" _No—Jesus Christ Boomer!" Butch howls, hopping while clutching his abused foot in alarm_

" _We want it" Boomer replies, smiling brightly_

 _The cashier just nods slowly, scanning the bag and looking unsure of what to make of the situation_

 _It isn't until they've left the store and are walking towards the exit, do the cogs turn in Butch's brain. He actually has to take a moment actually realise what's just happened_

" _What the hell" his jaw goes slack as Boomer hums cheerily while swinging his store-bought bag, the jacket folded neatly inside_

 _Butch genuinely doesn't even know what to say_

" _Boomer, what did you do" he asks slowly, half alarmed, half amazed while his brother just flashes him a grin "I got Brick a new jacket"_

" _Dude, oh my god" Butch stares in disbelief "How—I can't believe you actually just did that"_

 _Boomer shrugs, "Honestly? I was scared shitless"_

" _For real?" he watches as his younger brother grins sheepishly and shrugs_

" _Damn" it's all he can really say to summarise his thoughts_

* * *

 _March 2018 – Sunday 11:12 pm_

When Bubbles wakes up she's sort of dazed and disoriented

She doesn't actually remember falling asleep, so she just blinks and is stuck with the feeling of wanting to rub her eyes

 _She can't though because uh, makeup duh_

She worked pretty fucking hard for her eyeshadow for the day and she wasn't going to ruin it until she was in the comfort of her own bathroom washing her face.

Glancing out the window passively turns into alarm as she realises she's way past her usual bus stop and practically rips her phone out of her coat pockets to see when the last bus will be

"How do I do this—how do I always get myself into these situations?" she blanched, cold fingers scrolling through the bus timetable and grimacing

This was it

This was the last bus for the day

Her lips are pulled into a tight line when she looks out the window and can see the approaching bus stop.

It's not really worth staying on the bus for any longer. Despite the warmth it was providing, Bubbles finds herself pressing the 'stop' button so the driver knows she wants to get off at the next stop.

She really needed to get herself a car because this was just outright ridiculous and embarrassing at this point

Seriously though, what the actual fuck?

Did someone curse her? This shit wasn't normal

Grabbing her bag and moving to make her way out of the bus, she winced immediately at the rush of cold air hitting her. Hearing the automatic doors of the bus swoosh behind her, she stared, mildly perplexed with her situation as the bus drove past her and continued further downtown

 _Well this was lovely_

The air was cold and crisp and enough to keep her awake as she leaned against the bus stop sign.

Unbelievable

Despite the less than ideal situation she's found herself in, Bubbles knows The city of Townsville like the back of her hand—and that included the dodgiest area of said city.

She's still somewhat feeling the affects of the drinks she's had from the last couple of hours or so, and she realises she's probably going to need to drink a gallon of water when she gets back home to rehydrate herself.

Honestly, she should've just stayed over at Julie's or something.

The music that was playing in her ears was the only thing keeping her heartbeat from increasing to dangerous levels in this neighbourhood, and as her hand brushes against her phone in her jacket pocket, she can't help but feel chills along her spine.

 _There was no fucking way in hell she was ever going to call an Uber again_

Lips pursed and mind set, she begins to trudge along down in the opposite direction of the bus stop

She wasn't an idiot. She couldn't just waltz all the way back to central Townsville from where she was, and seeing as she was out of options, Mitch's house would have to do

…Even though that was probably the last place she wanted to go to

There's this small feeling of uneasiness within her that tells her she's sobering up rather quickly as she makes her way through the dimly lit streets.

There's unkempt front yards and teenagers loitering around worn out convenience stores she hasn't gone to in years

Lowering the volume from her phone, Bubbles finds herself hating how there was such a drastic lack of care for this part of the city looks.

 _Seriously though, how hard could it be to replace a few of the street lights and paint over the graffiti?_

Bubbles doesn't think twice about crossing the street when she sees a group of drunk men yelling outside of some small fast food store.

She cringes when she hears one of them have the audacity to wave out to her and call her over

 _Ew, ew, ew, ew, NO_

They lose interest in her pretty fast as she picks up her pace and speed walks the hell out of that street, rolling her eyes at more crude artwork on some of the walls to the stores she passes.

The lack of police officers around the area was also another issue—it made no sense how little anyone seemed to care for area that was pretty much the hotspot of crime these days.

It was weird

Bubbles grew up closer towards the heart of Townsville. Crime had always been an all time low there as far as she had been concerned and it's not like she had any reason to go out of her way and hang out in this part of the city—wait no, that was a lie

The Jojo brothers used to live here but she'd really only been at their house once or twice in her lifetime since the boys had hardly ever wanted anyone near their house—that sort of included all the Utonium's. Looking back, when she was in her pre-teens she hadn't understood it very clearly.

She had the habit of zoning out and hadn't really paid any sort of attention to how bad the area really was. Realistically, she could see why hanging out at the Jojo brother's residence was a rarity.

 _But that's not the case anymore_

She'd been to Boomer's house the day before and despite being drunk out of her mind when she first got there, it was huge and almost everything in that place looked like it cost a fortune. It wasn't a stretch to assume that their dad had some scientific break through that led them up in the money world.

—But if they had money, then why join a gang?

Or, all their income was coming in from illegal activity. Another, massive possibility.

Though, she was like eighteen, what the hell did people in gangs even do? She didn't even watch crime shows, she was more of a rom-com person.

When they were kids, Buttercup had probably gone to this neighbourhood more times than her and Blossom combined, in her case practically all her friends lived here.

Blossom had Dexter, and the majority of her friends were made from her dance and science clubs.

The two were friends with people on completely different sides of a scale—Blossom surrounded herself with people of privilege and intelligence, while Buttercup could hang out with a good variety of people, she preferred Mitch's crews.

Mitch lived here so that meant Buttercup wanted to come over more and everyone including their mothers knew that Mitch had a hard-on for having party's every other weekend in his freaking house.

In a way, Bubbles was left in the middle

She could get along with either of their friends in all honesty, but it was tiring having to mentally catch up with Blossom's peers and then her conscience was always at stake when it came to hanging out with Buttercup's.

* * *

She's been walking for what feels like hours but in reality it's probably been around fifteen minutes

Its cold, and dark and the street lights around the area weren't really doing her any justice

Her calls towards Buttercup have been going to voicemail, and she really didn't want Blossom to catch wind of any of this so she's left in this weird predicament.

It sort of occurs to Bubbles that her confidence in knowing the streets of Townsville like the back of her hand was a lie and she's basically gotten herself lost

…Okay, no that was an exaggeration, she wasn't exactly lost

She was still following the map route on her phone, but it's leading her towards an alleyway and there's alarm bells ringing.

It's still at a distance, and while crossing the street, Bubbles stares at the mouth of the alleyway in contemplation—She's in the worst parts of Townsville alone for the second time in a week. It's really not worth it but it's the quickest route available so she begins her journey and walks towards it anyway

There's loud trap music playing from one of the apartments with their glass window broken in so Bubbles wonders if she's really about to make another ginormous mistake again.

It's not until she's almost rounding the corner does she pause in her step at the sound of low voices conversing in the alleyway

" _We need to do this another way,"_

" _It's these fucking brats—they never should've been hired in the first place" one of the men growl out_

There's a tense silence and Bubbles wonders if that's her cue to get the fuck out of there

"— _He wasn't even there at the coffee shop, so it would've been a bust either way I suppose"_

Hold the phone- what

There's something about the tones they're speaking in, it's causing alarm bells to ring and basically a sixth sense she didn't even know she had to go off on red alert

Despite all the sane choices of actions that run through her mind—like running the fuck away, something else compels her to crouch down in the empty street

This was really none of her business and she was a ROMANTIC COMEDY type of person—this was no where near her style and she's having to ignore the feeling of her heels aching from the amount of time she's been wearing the heels for.

" _Doesn't matter. Capturing two out of three isn't really a failure and it's not like the Boss wouldn't have another ace up his fat sleeve to catch the final brat" another man scoffed_

" _The boss is a fucking idiot. Soci del diavolo is the entire reason he's even made it this far—"_

WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!

There's a feeling of dread that's taking over her entire being, and Bubbles doesn't know when she's started to hold her breath but it's not fucking rocket science to connect the dots together

 _They're talking about Boomer and Butch, they're talking about Boomer and Butch, Oh my fucking god THEY'RETALKINGABOUTBOOMERANDBUTCH_

It's all blowing her mind because she was there—she was actually there during that stupid assault at Starbucks, and she was there when everything went to shit

She's torn between running away and calling the cops, or staying low to hear more

This wasn't fair

It included her and Buttercup now too

 _I'm so stupid_

She could've just stayed over at Robin's house, had one of her friends drop her home, had Mike come with her on the bus

Though, despite the pure terror running through her veins, she stays crouched down, in a poor attempt to hear more

She's shaking, but her minds whirling

The gang that had attacked them at Starbucks—the people she was listening in on currently had a connection.

Okay no, it was more than a connection. Boomer and Butch where with her when it had happened so the third brat was obviously Brick

Thinking back to the day of the attack leaves her healing wounds suddenly feeling fresh. Her knees and hands were still scabbed over from almost kissing the concrete and although she wasn't seriously injured, the thought of pain sends a fresh wave of nausea to run through her system.

Sensing a sudden disturbance, Bubbles could feel her survival instincts being kicked in. She found herself ripping her gaze away from the alleyway where the voices were talking and slowly turns her head around to see Boomer grab her arm and pull her behind him

What

The

fuck

Horrified and genuinely confused, she's left staring at him with wide eyes

"What the hell are you doing here?" He hisses out at her and she's suddenly lost all her will to speak because Boomer Jojo is the last person she expected to see tonight and she's never actually seen the guy get mad—okay, she sort of has but the scenario was still mind boggling.

Looking back over to the direction of where the beings were still conversing, Boomer finds himself massaging his temples similarly to how Brick would before turning back towards her "You can't be here" he says, voice low and it causes her to suppress a shudder

She's speechless and confused

"You've got to come with me," he sighs, motioning her to follow him as he begins heading down the street

Feeling her horror quadruple at the thought of spending another second alone, Bubbles urges her legs to quietly chase after his retreating figure and grabs the back of his jacket in attempt to keep up in her heels.

If her mind wasn't so clouded with fear she would've actually been proud of herself for making it this far in her stilettos.

In fact, she's so out of it that when he trades his jacket for his hand she just grips it tight enough that she might break her wrist

Her jacket's zipped all the way up but she can't stop herself from shaking

She needs to move the hell out of Townsville—what the hell

Was her hometown always this corrupted?!

Bubbles doesn't even register Boomer bringing her towards his car and opening the door to the passengers seat for her and leading her in.

He closes the door before making his way round towards the driver's seat and inserting the key and turning the heat on for her. "I need you to just stay here and wait for me for a sec," he says, and Bubbles feels herself nodding but she's not really listening

"I'm serious" he says, clicking his fingers and getting her to look at him "Don't leave this car"

After getting another nod from her he sighs before closing the door. The moment he leaves she bursts into tears.

* * *

 _Monday morning, March 2018_

Blinking groggily, Buttercup finds that she genuinely can't make sense out of what her History teacher's spouting

Her phone vibrates in her jacket pocket but she ignores it in favour of trying to figure out what page they're on in her textbook.

She decides that having classes as nine in the morning are equal to the plague and if she ever becomes president, it will be the first thing to go

Flipping through her notes in some small hope of catching up with the class, Buttercup ends up picking up her highlighter and highlighting various points that seem important to remember.

Once done with flipping through her entire notebook and finally understanding what topic they were on, she's already discreetly sliding out her phone

 **Butch: I can't find my fucking shoes**

Buttercup stares at her device with a bewildered expression before unlocking her phone

 **Buttercup: Okay, and?**

She goes to put her phone back away into her jeans pocket but another vibration alerts her that he's already replied

 **Butch: Boomer probably fucking stole them. The cow**

 **Buttercup:…okay? So text Boomer. It's too fucking early for your bullshit**

 **Butch: Already did dumbass, he's not replying**

She goes to reply back but stops when she see's that he's already typing

 **Butch: Anyway, I'm bored. Lets go do something**

She's gawking

 **Buttercup: Bitch, are you dumb? I'm in class**

She's already sliding her phone back into her pocket to write up the notes from the board. Her handwritings messy, but readable as she bullet points the main issues before her phone vibrates again.

Once her history teacher had deemed that enough time had passed, she minimises the PowerPoint set up and moves to open up a documentary instead.

Buttercup adjusts in her seat, eyes blurring to stay awake as the woman turns the lights off and everyone focuses on the interactive white board. The loud sound momentarily causes her to flinch before the teacher lowers the volume and they're all watching a forty seven minute long video.

It's dragging on and on, and all she really wants is her bed

Eventually, after staring at the video that's been playing for almost ten minutes now, Buttercup realises that for the life of her, she can't keep her eyes open at all.

She gives up when her eyes drag close for the hundredth time, the sound of the video playing becomes white noise and she just lays her head onto the table and gives in

* * *

 _When Buttercup first starts going to high school, there's this group of seniors she notices that always seem to be roaming around outside_

 _They're weird and reek of alcohol and other drugs—and quite frankly, none of her business whatsoever, so she doesn't really bat an eye towards them and carries on her merry way._

 _Buttercup realises eventually enough, that high school isn't really all that different from middle school and that she's back at the bottom of the food chain in terms of grade._

 _She joins the girls soccer club an track team because she's always been one for athletics_

 _It's only been a few months since the boys have disappeared, and Blossom insists that she should get out the house more, so she takes up more extracurriculars to fill up her mind_

 _Taekwondo soon gets added onto the list of clubs that Buttercup joins to get her mind off of middle school._

 _She's had to rip down random posters in her bedroom because a lot of them, are reminders of bands and wrestlers that she and Butch admired and there's really no point in dwelling in the past—_

 _She wants to get the hell out of Townsville as soon as possible_

 _Blossom's the first to move on from the strange disappearance of the Jojo brothers, and similar to Buttercup, she's taken up all her free time in extracurriculars. She joins the science and dance clubs. She's still in ballet and a lot of her dance recitals are filled with people with high expectations. She even manages to get herself onto the student council._

 _Out of the trio, Blossom was the luckiest_

 _She had the brains, talent and looks to get her far in life._

 _Bubbles was the one who was the most reluctant in regarding to change. She joined the cheer team and regularly participated in the school productions once she'd gotten the hang of it. She'd easily climbed her way up the social ladder with her personality, so realistically she should've been the one to enjoy high school the most_

 _It's not until they're nearly at Halloween does Bubbles finally decide to enjoy high school properly—or really, as much as you can_

 _It's still high school after all_

 _When Buttercup first meets Ace, its because of grape soda_

 _In all honestly, its after a track meet, so she's gross and sweaty and just wants a carbonated beverage before heading home_

 _It's weird, because she doesn't even particularly like grape soda that much, but its one of those cravings that you just can't seem to push away, so regardless of her soda preferences she buys the thing anyway._

 _It's absolutely awful when she steps out of the convenience store because the sun is basically baking her and she's still gross and sweaty and in her track uniform. So when she opens the can for her soda it's really only her luck when she's being crashed into by a ruffian on a skateboard and her well-deserved beverage goes flying everywhere_

 _The actual audacity_

" _Are you freaking kidding me!?" She snaps, momentarily stunned by the freezing cold feeling of the drink making contact with her skin, before she realises that her white shirt is stained with artificial purple._

 _The guy just laughs while readjusting his board, and she can see her reflection in his dark sunglasses as he glances at her_

 _Sorry 'bout that doll face!" he calls out, ready to leave her in the dust but she's already reaching out and gripping onto his arm before he can really make his escape_

 _He stumbles before a cross look appears onto his features "Can I fucking help you? I said I was sorry"_

 _If she had superpowers, she'd be ready to send him flying into the sun for the blatant disrespect he was throwing her way_

" _Yeah? Well you've made me spill basically my entire fucking drink and ruined my clothes" she barks back, annoyance pumping through her veins by the pure idiocy of his actions_

 _He looked older than her but lacked the brain cells of a child_

 _What was worse was that he was the one regarding her with a look of distain, as if SHE was the miscreant who had gotten them both into this mess_

 _Eventually, he gives in and rolls his eyes, stepping back into the convenience store and buying her a bottle of her grape soda instead of a can to make amends before he goes back on his merry way down the streets_

 _Buttercup just shrugs, satisfied_

 _The second time she meets Ace is when Mitch invites her to some senior's party in his neighbourhood._

 _She's already learnt to ignore the smell and sight of used beer cans in the streets there, and doesn't really question the run-down house that's playing music far too loud to be considered legal_

 _It's her first legitimate high school party and from what she's seeing, it doesn't look anything like what she's expected._

 _Mitch goes ahead and seems to start a conversation up with who she assumes is the house owner while Buttercup eyes the scene with bemusement_

 _There's some guy actually puking in the front lawn and Buttercup can't stop the small part of her conscience that wants to help the guy_

 _Ugh_

 _Funny enough, her conscience sounded a lot like Bubbles so she couldn't really find it within her to ignore the situation presented before her and she's already zipping into the kitchen of whoever's house she's in and grabbing a water bottle from the fridge_

 _She checks to see if the seal isn't broken before dodging the mass of sweaty teenagers who had taken over the very small house before making her way back to the front lawn_

 _The guy is still slouched over, trying to regain his bearings, and in all honesty, she isn't that sure on what exactly she's supposed to do here_

 _Rub his back? Smack his back? Kick him?_

 _What a dilemma_

 _Buttercup settles for crouching over "Hey dude, you good?" she asks, attentively putting her hand on his shoulder while her free hand clutches the bottled water tightly in silent offering_

 _He groans, grabbing the liquid and unscrewing the cap before chugging down some its contents in an attempt to settle his stomach_

… _It doesn't really work that well and he's back to throwing up in the bushes_

 _Buttercup pulls a face—man, high school parties were fucking wack_

 _She's not really sure if she should even call an ambulance for the guy at this point but a pang of recognition hits her somewhere so she just stands there awkwardly waiting for him to regain his senses._

 _What a mess_

 _It's almost another ten minutes when the guy finally inhales deeply and acknowledges her "Thanks"_

 _He fucking reeks of vomit and alcohol so Buttercup makes sure to stay like, a metre or two away from the guy before she responds "Do you need to go home?"_

 _He shakes his head and staggers onto his feet "Nah, I'm good"_

 _Buttercup eyes him with doubt but shrugs_

 _She wasn't his Mom_

 _Figuring he was stable again and had drank all the water from the bottle, she decides that it's probably time to find Mitch back inside the house_

 _Instead, the guy groans "Hey,"_

 _Lord Jesus_

 _Turning her gaze back towards him she raises an eyebrow towards him, silently urging him to continue_

" _Let's go get some food"_

 _She stares at him blankly and he doesn't break eye contact_

 _Finally, she smiles_

 _It isn't until they've made their way to a random chicken shop a few blocks away does he put on his sunglasses and she's hit with another jolt of recognition_

 _Though, her memory really isn't the best of things so she opts to ignore it and the two place their orders_

 _When she's getting her wallet out of her bag he just waves her off and asks her to find a table._

 _She's really not the type to deny free food, even if it is from some weirdo she met an hour ago and sits herself down in one of the booths_

 _It's when he reappears with their tray of food and two cans of grape sodas does she finally recognise him_

" _Oh my god" she blinks as he sits himself down opposite her_

 _What's up?" he asks, lazily unwrapping his burger and going for a bite_

" _You're the asshole who knocked me over in the street the other day!"_

 _It takes another moment but she can see the cogs turning in his mind when his sunglasses slide down his nose "Oh right! You're the brat who demanded for another drink!"_

" _No shit," she scoffs, opening her can and taking a sip "You ruined my shirt that day and made me drop my drink"_

 _He shrugs noncommittedly "I made up for it didn't I?"_

 _She rolls his eyes and moves onto demolishing her fries "So, your name?"_

 _He grins "Ace"_

 _Buttercup snorts on her chips "What the fuck? Are you a drug dealer or some shit?"_

 _Ace shots her a comically distained look before she finally sighs and gives in "I'm Buttercup. Buttercup Utonium"_

 _It then suddenly dawns on her that she's left Mitch back at the party with no knowledge that she's ditched the joint_

 _Oh well_

* * *

 _Eventually, Buttercup grows fond of the crappy senior, she's used to the random greetings in the hallways that soon morph into hanging out after classes for junk food and arcades with the rest of their friends_

" _You're really graduating this year, huh?" Buttercup says flatly_

 _She's only really befriended him during the last couple of months into the school year, but It's all been uphill from there, so whose complaining?_

 _Well, Blossom mostly which in turn lead to the Professor getting involved but that's a whole different story_

 _Ace just shrugs and sips his beer "Yeah"_

 _They sit next to each other in a comfortable silence with their legs dangling over the side on the school roof. The sky's lacking in stars from the air pollution, but its still enough to distract her. It's exhilarating, she decides._

 _A part of her wants to just jump_

 _Not in a suicidal way, but more for the adrenaline rush feeling you get when on a_ _roller coaster_

 _It's weird because as solemn as she feels, when Buttercup really just sits there and takes in the whole situation she realises something_

 _Ace was wild and mostly uncaring of others. He had a sort of recklessness about him that ultimately had her drawn in, but its never really hit her until now as to why_

 _She's subconsciously been filling him in as Butch for the past few months and it really fucking hits her when he passes the can towards her_

 _There's a wave of guilt that washes over her so she just tips the can back and takes in a gulp before her face scrunches up in absolute disgust_

" _The fuck Ace? You couldn't have just bought some grape soda instead?!"_

 _Something about her outburst finally breaks the tense atmosphere and he just laughs, and laughs until his sides hurt_

" _Shit" Ace snorts, shaking his head and grabbing the can from her "I must be drunk"_

" _Don't come anywhere near me if you are" Buttercup states bluntly, flashes of their second meeting coming to mind where he's hunched over a bush_

 _Ace only rolls his eyes and takes another sip "I can't believe I'm going to miss you and your horrible personality"_

 _Buttercup only swings her feet, avoiding his gaze because she doesn't really know if she'll feel the same_

" _Yeah." she responds instead, tone unnaturally soft before they continue to drink in the stars_

* * *

 _Monday, March 2018_

The clouds are thick and grey and Blossom can't help the way her eyes drag away from the computer monitor and move towards the glass window in mild interest.

She taps her pencil on her notepad in boredom and shifts in her seat, careful not to put too much weight onto her still healing foot.

She was off dance practice for first week or two, which in her defence was sort of an exaggeration

It was a cut not a broken bone

….Okay, so it was a deep cut that required some tiny stiches but it really wasn't that bad

A small part of her wonders if it'll scar bad, another deems it irrational to worry seeing as its on her foot.

There's a sudden roar that comes from the sky, and Blossom can feels the corners of her lips pull down into a frown at the sight of the rain coming crashing down

Bringing her eyes away from the sky, she stares down at the track field and watches the mass of students who take part in extracurriculars start sprinting towards the bleachers in an effort to stay dry.

She's sort of thankful that they weren't in the spring or summer season yet. Bubbles was probably blissfully unaware of the rain torrenting down since cheer was held in the gymnasium.

…Buttercup on the other hand—

Wait

Blossom found herself leaning over to gain a better view as she attempted to pinpoint her sister but she's instead raising an eyebrow

It's Monday—Monday was Track day

She has the clearest view of all and finds herself staring at the entirety of the tack team struggling to shield themselves from the rain by remaining under the shelter by the bleachers

Blossom blinks

Once, twice

It suddenly dawns upon her that Buttercup had skipped her track meet

Rolling her eyes and sitting back down comfortably in her seat, Blossom pulls out her cell phone instead

 **Blossom: Did you go home early?**

She puts her phone down face up. Bringing her attention back towards the monitor she realises her computer's fallen asleep and shakes the mouse

 **Buttercup: Nah, I'm at track. Don't wait up for me though**

Blossom just blinks at her phone absurdly

 _Bitch, where?_

She turns her head back towards the window and squints to try and find her raven haired sister before frowning when she finds the field deserted

 _Makes sense_

There wasn't really any point in reassuming the club today if the weather went to shit.

Giving up on her paper, Blossom saves and prints off whatever research she's found before shutting her computer down and walking towards the printer.

The painkillers did wonders on minimising the ache in her foot but she couldn't help the wince every so often when she would unintentionally put too much weight on it.

Waiting for her work to print, Blossom licks her lips

It was by far, the worst injury she had ever obtained—and it was all because she wouldn't wear her fucking slippers

Curse her pride

Gathering her print out sheets, Blossom made her way back to the table in the library and put her work in her binder before closing her notepad and putting her stationary away.

In all honesty, as much as she wants to she can't really fault Brick for the injury

She was frustrated and upset before he had arrived in her room

She was frustrated and upset when she had chased after him in the streets in her pink fluffy slippers

Her mood at the time and stubbornness were a terrible mix combined and this was the end result.

Blossom wonders if she should really do something about this form of realisation, though she doubted after the previous weekend of chaos she'd ever properly see him again.

She wasn't going anywhere near Mitch's apocalyptic neighbourhood ever again, that was for sure.

Placing her belongings back into her school bag, Blossom repositions her wallet into one of the smaller pockets in her bag before she freezes as a sudden thought occurs to her.

Money—bills

The medical bill

It's a total slap in the face when she realises she wasn't given any hospital bills—there was no discussion about health insurance, she was a minor and there wasn't a single question about her lack of guardian or parental figure with her.

The Professor hadn't been informed at all and wasn't aware of her injury when she had come home last night.

She stumbles back into her seat and takes a minute to process the sudden information as her brain clicked everything together

She hadn't paid a dime

There were no questions asked

 _Brick_

It was fucking Brick Jojo

Blossom finds herself bringing her hands up to her cheeks and feels the ridiculous amount of warmth there. God, she was flustered

He wasn't even in the same room as her and he had left speechless once again

 _(This mental pressure got me poppin' pills and shit,_

 _I'm getting in way too fucking deep, but I'm into it)_

* * *

 **A/N:…Did I really only update after a decade or two had passed? Yes**

 **I'm not really a big fan on how this chapter turned out, but I got sick of writing and re-writing scenes that I just went with it.**

 **Okay! So I have sort of a rough draft on where this story is headed and I'm praying I'm not making things go too fast because I do want this story to be spread out evenly, you know?**

 **Apologies for Blossy's part being so short in this chapter! I promise it'll be her time to shine in Chapter nine! I've just been trying to type this chapter up for ageeeees and decided to cut her part short so you all could read this asap.**

 **I swear I'll give her an even part in the next chapter. Scouts honour.  
**

 **Thank you to everyone whose been reading this clusterfuck so far! You're appreciated!**

 **Reviews:**

 **Sabrina:** **YOU'VE WARMED MY HEART OMG. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting and I'm so happy you love my story and regularly check to see if it's been updated! Moving onto the rest of your review, the blues are actually my favourite pairing too! I totally agree with the lack of blues content out there, it's absolutely horrendous. The two also seem to get a lack of variety in terms of storyline content. I'm totally with you on how the majority of fics have him presented as soft spoken and gentle. At the end of the day, he IS a villain. He IS apart of the Rowdyruff boys and there is a lot to work with from those two facts alone. My friend, your grammar is fine and I'm ridiculously sorry for the lack of blue moments in the previous chapter. Don't worry, their time will come! I'm genuinely ecstatic you're enjoying my story! I'm really sorry for the long wait!**

 **Also, thank you! The greens are my second favourite pairing hilariously because of their personalities. The idea of Butch being a stoner got to me one night and I figured he'd be a blast to write as someone with a chilled, laidback personality.**

 **Thank you again for the kind review! If I could hug you or bake you a batch of cookies then I would! Take care my lovelie!**

 **Nebulously:** **YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY SO SWEET OMG. Thank you so much for enjoying my story! Especially since I'm such a big fan of your own works ugh. 'Donuts are apologies too' was absolute perfection even though it broke my heart. I have such a soft spot for the blues**

 **Moving onto your review, thank you for your patience and understanding! It really means a lot to me ;3;**

 **I'm glad you're enjoying how it's laying out. I wanted to give Bubbles to be the one to gain some perspective on Blossom and Dexter's relationship first just to give her time to process things.**

 **Out of the trio, I wanted to make Butch have a large impact on Buttercup, but in a different way than it did to Bubbles. Buttercup eagerly wants to reignite her past friendship with Butch whereas Bubbles wants to stay the fuck away from all three of the Jojo's LMAO. Blossom's feelings are still undecided.**

 **I'm glad you're liking Brick and Boomer's personalities so far! Thanks for reading and don't forget to take care of yourself!**

 **Crashdownbabe:** **Have I ever told you how much I love your username? Because I do lmao.**

 **I'm so glad I had managed to make you feel any sort of comfort with my writing! You're the absolute sweetest and I wish you nothing but the best! I'm so sorry you were going through a rough time, and if you ever need to talk, I promise you my PM box is open.**

 **Moving onto the review I'M SO GLAD YOU CAUGHT THE CYBORG REFERENCE LMAOOOO. I WAS WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO SAY IT.**

 **Mitch is jealous honey, don't worry LMAO. Or at least, he's mildly uncomfortable with how close Buttercup and Butch are getting in such a short amount of time.**

 **Bubbles has gone through a lot this past weekend LOL. At this point, I don't blame her for being a pessimist when Brick showed up.**

 **Blossom's fluffy pink slippers are something I want right now actually—my feet are freezing. But I'm glad you liked that scene!**

 **Bubbles isn't really drugged! She's just had too much to drink when she went bowling with her friends and the alcohol's exhausted her.**

 **Butch is a precious baby to me at this point. He can have all the time he wants to fix his hair to his liking.**

 **OOMMMG CHICA YOU'VE READ MY MIND! 'I could definitely see Butch not feeling pain he's the baron he's just like pain? What pain.' Honestly that was what I was going for LMAOOO! His nickname is 'The baron of berserk'. Out of the trio, his pain tolerance is A+**

 **Thank you so much for reviewing sunshine! I'm thrilled you're enjoying the story so far! Please don't forget to take care of yourself and have a good day!**

 **AprilStar2169:** **DARLING YOU'RE SO KIND OMG. Thank you so much for reading my story so far! Worry not, the girls will slowly but surely realise the error of their ways. I'm thrilled you're loving the character personalities! I love you omg.**

 **THANKS AGAIN FOR THE LOVELY REVIEW! AND DON'T FORGET TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!**

 **Guest: OMGGGG YOU BINGED THIS? Honestly you're amazing. Thank you so much for reading AND enjoying my story! I'm so happy you liked it!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Take care of yourself lovelie!**

 **Leeful:** **Bruh you're review is so long idek if I can be bothered to re-read it and type up a reply for your ass. LMAO JK.**

 **GIRL. YOU KNOW DAMN WELL IF I HAD CHANEL LIP GLOSS AND IT HAD FALLEN DOWN THE DRAIN I WOULD'VE PROBABLY HELD A DAMN FUNERAL FOR THE THING! THAT SHIT IS NOT CHEAP.**

 **BYEEEE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY YOU'RE SHOCKED WHENEVER I UPDATE!? MORE LIKE THE OTHER WAY ROUND! YOU'VE BARELY TYPED MORE THAN 1K FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER SMH.**

 **Sadly, Buttercup's ass is more like you in this story than Blossom is. What a mess. I'll have to try and link more connections between you and her later on cause as it is now, BLOSSOM'S WAY TOO FUCKING SMART FOR YOUR ASS LMFAOOOOOOOO. Jk Ily.**

 **LIsTeN aMelIA, IF SOMEONE TRIES TO EAT MY FOOD THEN OBVIOUSLY SHIT GETS PERSONAL. SMH.**

 **LMAOOOOOOOOO PEOPLE HEARING OUR CONVERSATIONS WOULD BE HORRIFYING. ABSOLUTELY NOT WE WOULD GET SENT TO AN ASYLUM.**

 **Bye Lia you would not get put into the countryside. You know damn well they'd just hold us in two separate facilities so we don't communicate and hopefully regain our sanities.**

' **PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE KEEP TYPING AND DONT LOSE THAT MOTIVATION!' Bitch…shouldn't I be saying that to YOU? CAUSE I AIN'T SEEING NO PROGRESS WITH MISFORTUNE ANYWHERE SO THE FUCK YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!**

' **Misfortune can wait when this masterpiece is updated' – Amelia Romero**

 **OH WELL WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! I'VE UPDATED! Chop, chop Romero. Before I unleash Ry on your ass.**

 **LMAOOO BUTCH IS LOWKEY OVERTAKING BOOMER AS MY BIAS TOO LMAOOOOOOOOOO.**

 **Dude if you go as him during Halloween I want pictures.**

 **BYE HOE! YOU BETTER GET YOUR ASS TO TYPING! TOODLES!**

 **JasmineJewel01:** **GIRL DON'T YOU WORRY YOU'RE PRETTY LIL HEAD! I SEE YOU!**

 **Don't worry chica! This story is a SLOWBURN REDS, BLUES and GREENS fic! The puffs and ruffs are definitely endgame!**

 **Though they'll still all be friends with each other too! Like Blossom and Butch for example or Brick and Bubbles. THEY'RE ALL GOING TO BE SQUAD GOAAAAAAALS.**

 **But yeah, endgame will deffo be Blossom x Brick, Bubbles x Boomer and Butterucp x Butch to clarify. I wouldn't be able to go to sleep at night if they weren't.**

 **THANK YOU SM FOR THE REVIEW! DON'T FORGET TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Guess who's done with her course? This bitch, so we can finally UPDATE**

 **I'm sorry for updating every hundred years. I swear it's not intentional.**

 **Special thanks to N Chanel** **and** **AitchhDee** **for trying to help me get out of my writers Block! And to** **Leeful** **because she's a brat!**

 **Also, you're probably going to see characters from random cartoons as extras in this fic, so kudos to you if you recognise them! KAY, ENJOY!**

* * *

 _(You'd like to be a member of the human race?_

 _You want to be a good boy, but you couldn't stand the taste)_

"We're playing against _TAA_ next week?" Dexter asked, scrunching his nose is mild distaste at the thought of people running around on a field attacking each other like savages.

Around them, students could be seen walking out of classrooms, through the corridors and towards the exit Blossom smiled as they stopped by her locker "Yeah," she entered her combination before opening it and putting her books away "Buttercup's not playing since it's the boys team, but all her friends are and she's dragging me and Bubbles along so she isn't alone cheering" she shrugged.

Nodding along to her explanation, he wordlessly held her water bottle as she sorted herself out "Isn't Bubbles already required to go? She's a cheerleader isn't she?"

"Yeah she's been at practice a lot lately, so it'll probably pay off—and I'm really not required to go, but school spirit I guess" she shrugged "Will you come with me?" closing her locker, Blossom spun around to face her boyfriend, a small smile on her face "I know it's not really you're thing…."

Dexter paused, he _really, really_ couldn't care less about a football match but one glance at her hopeful smile and he knew there wasn't any chance of him saying no to her "Of course—Mind you, I'd rather watch paint dry."

Blossom's face split into a wide smile and she happily clung onto his arm "Thank you! I'm so glad you're coming!"

He sighed, but smiled nonetheless and intertwined their fingers together when she held his hand "It's really nothing."

A sudden thought came towards him "How's your foot doing?"

A sheepish smile rose to Blossom's face "It's fine. It doesn't really hurt at all anymore."

Dexter nods along, fighting the urge to drop her hand in fear of his own being clammy.

"You could invite DeeDee too if you want?"

Dexter let out a loud snort as they made their way down the corridor "God no—I see enough of her at home as it is." he rolled his eyes at the thought of his older sister before a disturbing thought occurred to him,

"Hold on" he paused, freezing and causing Blossom to turn towards him with her eyebrow raised.

"She might actually be there" he groaned, causing Blossom to roll her eyes and smack him lightly against the chest "So what? I happen to like DeeDee."

"That's inconceivably worse, Blossom."

* * *

The weather was starting to get warmer.

It was a nice touch after the last few months of the cold, and it only really occurred to Bubbles as she was thrown up high on the pyramid to do a toe touch.

Her mood always did significantly brighten up whenever the sun was out, the cold wasn't really that agreeable with her fashion sense. The majority of her closet consisted of summer clothing, and now that the weather wasn't disgustingly grey on the daily, she had a chance to liven her wardrobe up.

April was a good month—it meant Spring

Landing onto the grass, she could feel her heart pounding as she took a moment to regain her breath.

"Alright, can we do that last part of the routine again? Where we throw the flyers up into the air? It seemed a little off earlier" She hears their cheerleading captain, Koriand'r say.

Bubbles blinked, finding herself moving back towards her previous position as one of the girls from the base bent down. Getting ready to throw her back into the air.

"Five, six, seven, eight!"

Feeling herself being flung back into the air, Bubbles takes a second to scan the field, a smile forming onto her face at the sight of the football team playing further away.

And if the football team were playing, then Buttercup was probably either watching on the bleachers, or she'd somehow managed to sneak into the game again,

She'd bet good money on the latter—it's not like the coach could ever really get angry at her.

Buttercup was their star player—and she wasn't even on the team (she probably would've been, had it not been the boys football team).

It's not until she's seeing a flash of blond hair where the football team is does Bubbles find herself losing balance momentarily and almost tumbles off the entire pyramid.

She doesn't though, but her teammates catch on easily enough,

"Bubbles! Are you okay?" Kimberly asks, one of the beings holding her up before the team finally disassemble and she's put back onto the ground.

"Yeah, Sorry about that" Bubbles finds herself playing with the hem of her skirt as a form of distraction "I thought a wasp was going to attack me."

"A wasp!?" someone screeches, horrified and outright alarmed.

There's more terrified murmurs as the rest of her teammates begin looking around in equal fashion and Bubbles can't help but welcome the commotion with open arms.

"Alright, ladies get it together!" Kori says, clapping her hand and gaining the attention of the rest of the team "We've got to be ready for next week, so we really need to crack down on this routine" pulling out her phone to glance at the time, she sighs.

"We have time to go over this one more time before practise ends! Get into positions—wait, Olivia, come stand on my left this time" she motions towards the girl as everyone moves to their places.

Bubbles finds her eyes wondering back towards the football pitch before she steels them back in front of her.

"Five, six, seven, eight!"

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _It's the second time she's stuck riding a car home with Boomer Jojo and it hasn't even been a week._

 _She shouldn't have left her house._

 _It didn't matter that Brick was there—she should've just gone into her room and taken a nap, not leave the building and eavesdrop on some conversation that would send her to the brick of insanity._

 _The drive out of the suburbs of Townsville is tense and Bubbles finds herself typing a text to the Professor to say that she's on her way home._

 _Boomer just sighs as they meet a red traffic light. He cracks his knuckles and Bubbles has to bite the inside of her cheek when she recognises it as a nervous quirk of his that hasn't seem to have gone away, even after all these years._

" _Are you—Are you okay?" he finally asks, breaking the silence._

" _Yeah" No_

 _Boomer raises an eyebrow at her blatant lie but doesn't press as he puts his foot onto the accelerator and drives down another road._

" _Boomer?" He hums in response, eyes on the road_

 _What the hell was going on back there? Who were those people and what did they want?!_

" _Why did you and your brothers come back to Townsville?" – okay, that was not the question she was planning on asking but it was too late now._

 _She's met with another round of a tense silence as Boomer takes a turn before finally responding._

" _Dad wanted us to move back, he got what he needed from Citysville"_

 _Bubbles frowns "What did he need from there?"_

 _Licking his lips, he turns the windscreen wipers on as the rain begins to pick up "A job"_

 _He doesn't seem to want to expand on the matter, so Bubbles just finds herself staring back out of the window._

" _Why did you come back here?"_

 _She almost jumps at the question—she really, really doesn't want to answer and doesn't know why she asked_

 _Boomer smiles lightly, but there's no humour in his eyes "Us moving back really that bad?"_

 _Bubbles frowns "That's not it"_

" _But you rather we stayed in Citysville, right?"_

 _There's a part of her that's ashamed, but a larger part of her is mad "That's not it!" she snaps and Boomer finds himself going down her street._

" _Then what's the problem?!"_

" _The problem is you killed my fucking uber driver!"_

 _Something in him snaps as he quickly pulls over to the side "He's not fucking dead! Would you get over it already!?"_

 _Excuse me—_

 _WHAT_

" _What do you—Boomer you shot him! I heard you, I saw him collapse!" she's near hysterics now, because if he really was alive, then what the hell had she been crying about?_

" _Yeah, because I did shoot him." he massages the bridge between his nose "But I didn't just shoot him for the hell of it."_

 _She's stunned but anger quickly replaces the emotion "What gives you the right—"_

" _He borrowed money from us!" Boomer snaps, causing her to mouth to slam shut "He borrowed money, and wasn't planning on paying us back. Then we had sources find out he was relaying information to a rival gang."_

" _That's—that's still no reason to—"_

" _You remember that night? The car you were in wasn't his, it was ours."_

 _Bubbles feels her mouth go dry as he continues "We were tailing after him—his debt was ridiculously overdue, he was planning to try to take us down, and to top it all off he was driving around in a stolen car as if we wouldn't be able to find him—"_

" _That doesn't make any sense," she says, lower lip trembling "Why would he take on a job as an uber driver if he—"_

" _Because he needed money," Boomer scoffs "He blew all the cash we gave him months ago and was planning to skip town."_

" _But why would he risk driving around in your old neighbourhood?! Why did he get out of the car if he was trying to run away from you all?!"_

 _Boomer just turns towards her and Bubbles feels a chill go up her spine "Why don't you ask him?"_

" _But—I" she's honestly speechless and takes a moment to process it all "…He's really still alive?" she asks, voice small._

" _Yeah, He's back at Citysville." he murmurs, "The rest of the gang I was with that night handled him. I was supposed to go with them but I saw you." He snorts "Wild, right?"_

 _She's really not sure how she's supposed to take this._

" _Why Citysville?" she asks instead._

" _Because it's one of the most corrupted cities in the country, Bubbly" he laughed, eyes dark "How else do you think we ended up this way?"_

 _She feels her throat clench uncomfortably and fights back the need to sob "Then why are you in Townsville if Citysville is so important!? You said you hated this place!"_

 _Boomer's gaze softens "Yeah—I'm sorry. It wasn't you guys or anything." He laughs "Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound that harsh that night when you had slept over. If anything—you guys made it bearable."_

 _This time, Bubbles does let out choked sob, in spite of herself "Then why did you leave?!"_

 _Immediately, he's leaning and reaching towards her before pausing and thinking better of it. Opening the glove compartment he pulls out a box of tissues and hands offers it towards her._

" _Still a cry-baby, huh?"_

" _Shut up" she scowls, daintily dabbing at her face because she knows she's wearing expensive foundation._

 _Boomer smiles softly "You remember where I used to live? There was always shit happening in our neighbourhood Bubbles. Pizza places weren't even allowed to come deliver there after dark."_

" _Yeah, I know." she mumbles "But how's Citysville any better? Why couldn't you just move into a nicer neighbourhood—"_

" _We couldn't afford it."_

 _She's been rendered speechless too many times "Oh."_

* * *

Buttercup watches idly from the couch as Blossom walks downstairs carrying two rather large boxes stacked on top of each other.

"Uh—do you need help?" she asks, unsure

Peeping her head around the boxes, Blossom gives her sister a look "Please."

Wordlessly, she gets off of the couch and heads towards the stairs and grabs the box stacked on top "Where do you want them?"

"Dining table, please."

Buttercup hums her affirmative and obediently carries it towards the dining room before placing it onto the table, Blossom follows right after and exhales in relief.

"What are these for, anyway?"

Blossom gives a wry smile "I persuaded Aunt Bellum to take the state of downtown Townsville more seriously. Especially considering the amount of homeless people there are on those streets."

"What—and she just agreed?!" Buttercup gawked.

"Yeah—sort of," she shrugs "It's a start. I've got to figure out a way to raise money so I was thinking a bake sale or something."

"Blossom, you can't cook to save your life" Buttercup said bluntly.

Now it was the redhead's turn to gawk as she sputtered, "I can too cook-!"

"No, you really can't!" Bubbles piped in from the living room, shutting the door behind her and still adorning her cheerleading outfit as she undid the laces on her shoes before taking them off completely and placing them neatly on the shoe rack.

Buttercup gave her sister a pointed look before shaking her head "How about we try something else?"

"Like what?!"

Bubbles came into the dining room and began to peak into the boxes "Are these T-shirts?"

"Yeah. I was thinking of giving them out as prizes or using them as a uniform."

"They're so—plain." Bubbles pouted, but examined the material "At least the quality isn't too bad."

At this point, Blossom was starting to look exasperated "Bubbles, they're not supposed to be a fashion statement—"

"What's all this for exactly?" The blonde asks, tilting her head in question.

"She's trying to organise a way to raise money for the homeless and for the people in Mitch's neighbourhood."

"I'm in," Bubbles says without hesitation, turning towards her sister with a look of finality.

Her face brightened considerably "That's great! I wanted to—"

Buttercup just looked confused "When did you even have the time to order these?"

"I had plenty of—"

"Wait. aren't you supposed to also be studying for the decathlon next week?" Bubbles tilted her head, holding up a T-shirt to see if it was her size.

"Well, yes, but I—"

"And aren't you having a dance recital soon?" Buttercup frowned

"That's not until June—!"

"But what about the student council? Mike told me you're supposed to be designing the meeting agenda for the month."

"OKAY, Would you two just go already?!" Blossom snapped, at her wits end and shoving her sisters out of the room entirely.

Now, kicked out of their own dining room, Bubbles and Buttercup just gawked at the now shut door.

"Well, that wasn't very nice" Bubbles rolled her eyes before heading towards the living room and turned on the television.

"I think she's just mad that we're right" Buttercup snorted, passing her up the stairs to go grab her skateboard and fix herself in front of the mirror before heading back down.

"Are you going out—wait, are you wearing make up?"

Buttercup scowls "I'm literally just wearing mascara."

"Yeah—okay ,sure." The blonde snorts as her sister goes to put her shoes on "Wait—did you style your hair?!" her voice raises by an octave and Buttercup flips her younger sister off.

"I always style my hair."

Bubbles hums in interest before turning back to stare towards the TV screen. "Tell Butch I said hi"

"Will do. I'll see you at dinner!" And with that the door shuts and Bubbles feels herself exhaling slowly through her nose before she flips through the channels once again.

 _Yikes. It looked like there was going to be a love-triangle of some sorts with Buttercup eventually._

Despite it all, she no longer feels tension in her bones.

* * *

"Is this allowed?" Butch mumbles to his older brother, tugging at his collar, uncomfortably. "It'd be nice to be able to breathe every so often. Can't I just undo the first couple of buttons?"

The entire setup was ridiculously professional. The studio was filled with specialised cameras and the staff all hurried around.

"Sure, go ahead." Brick rolled his eyes, already done with his shoot as one of the directors showed him his last set of photos on a laptop. "Just don't blame me when Dad beats your ass for it."

"What're we even taking these for?" the raven haired teen asked, exasperated.

Scowling, Butch crosses his arms. His eyes travelled towards the screen that his brother was focussed on, and he had to admit, the photos they'd taken so far weren't at all half bad.

Brick's images were seen as austere and calculated. The dark backdrop had contrasted rather well with his complexion as he gazed into the camera with an air of nobility. His entire get up was down to a 'T'. His suit was on perfectly and hair neatly styled. Butch's could argue that if he wasn't related to his brother he'd probably consider him to look rather decent.

But since they were related he could say with all of his heart that Brick was ugly as hell and move on (despite the fact that a lot of the staff members were eyeing him as if he was the hottest thing to walk the earth).

Debatably, Butch's photos came out rather well too. They managed to really capture his essence with him smirking smugly into the camera (because, _this_ was what the hottest thing to walk the earth would do). While all of Brick's came out cold, Butch's images bought more life into the picture. The first few images of him had his collar and tie on correctly before he'd given up and undid the first few buttons. He'd managed to loosen the tie too before Brick came in and demanded he'd be fixed.

"Dad wanted new photos. Or it's for some Italian magazine." The leader shrugged, uncaring.

"He's got like, eighty pictures of me wearing the suit properly!" Butch scoffed before taking over and clicking back to his photos "Damn—I'm fine as hell" he said, grinning back towards Brick "You see this?" he showed Brick an image of him holding his blazer over his shoulder, staring into the camera with a signature arrogant smirk "This is hot."

He then scrolled all the way up to where Brick's images where "And this—" he clicked onto an image of Brick just finishing sneezing with his hands covering his mouth and eyes slammed shut. "is not."

Brick stared at Butch blankly, before grabbing the director's microphone and conking his brother's head with it and he cackled.

"Loving it, Boomer! Give us more edge! More poise!" One of the photographers cried, his Italian accent thick "Somebody get this boy a fan!"

Butch and Brick paused before turning towards the direction of where the cameras were.

Boomer, being the narcissist that he was, grinned lazily. Cobalt eyes seemed to pierce through the camera and there was a sudden splurge of flashes and clicks that followed as he laughed, grin widening.

"Why is he like this?" Butch asked, looking ready to throw himself out of a window before turning to Brick. "This is all your teachings. That's why he's become so arrogant and self-absorbed."

"Me?" the redhead scoffed "This is all on you."

The two brothers watched as Boomer posed with ease. Okay—so Brick's poses may have felt just a tad stiff. And Butch's may have possibly been somewhat uncomfortable—but how the hell was Boomer so into this shit?

"That's a wrap Boomer! Someone give this poor boy a refreshment!" the photographer screeched while the blond grinned happily at the members of staff surrounding him.

"I literally have no idea where he gets this from." Butch said, pouting over the lack of attention given during his photos.

"it's definitely you"

* * *

Brick Jojo knows things.

He knows all about burning things into ash, breaking things into bloody bits and taking sips of chaos like a fine wine.

Brick Can feel his sins crawling on his back, and as he takes a long drag as he welcomes the feeling. The sensation of being relaxed enters his bloodstream before he tosses the joint towards the concrete and stomps on it.

But most importantly, he knew how to clean up a mess when he saw one.

"Alright then," he starts off, eyes bloodshot and he can practically feel Butch twitching anxiously in the background, an excited grin lighting up his face. Boomer was besides him, chewing gum and experimentally swinging his bat.

It wasn't difficult getting the man here.

Ace was a fighter. His shades lazily thrown across the warehouse as Brick regarded him as if he were a bug on the windshield.

"So, let's do this again." The redhead sighed, giving the man tied to a chair an apathetic look, despite the exhaustion on his features. "Who hired you?"

Ace coughs up blood, head swaying and if he could move his limbs, he'd probably flip Brick off like the badass that he was. The issue however, he was seeing stars and his eyes were swollen.

Boomer whistles, stepping forward and examining Butch's dirty work "He looks like he's about to pass out."

"Good" Butch snorts and Brick shoots his brothers a look before massaging his temples.

"Fine." He grounds out, annoyed. "Get him some water."

Boomer clicks his tongue but follows his orders while Butch looks as if he wants to do far worse to the nearly-unconscious man.

Brick idly wonders if Ace was going to survive this but Boomer's back with a glass of water and is bringing the rim of it up to his bloody and broken lips.

Ace takes several gulps of the stuff before spitting it right out in Butch's direction.

Boomer snorts, loudly "Oh, gross dude!"

"Motherfucker!" Butch grabs Boomer's bat and slug's Ace in the face "This was a new shirt!"

Ace winces, but he's still grinning and spits out a bloody tooth "You want to know who sent us that bad?" he looks at Brick in the eyes while Butch is grimacing over his now ruined clothes in disgust.

Brick raises an eyebrow towards him, prompting the mangled teen to continue

"You ever thought that it was someone in your ranks, red?" Ace coughs, but there's a sick gleam in his eye "Or that it was someone up the mafia hierarchy?"

 _Honestly, yeah. He has come across the thought multiple times._

"If that's the case then you really are a dumbass." Boomer notes, ripping out an anti-bacterial wipe from its packaging and absentmindedly wiping his bat clean. "You think we don't pay attention to that kind of shit?"

Ace would narrow his eyes, but they're already swollen as hell. "Please. You have no idea who the fuck the mole is."

Butch really wants to slug him in the face for a second time—but Brick is glaring at him to stay put so all he can do is tap his foot on the ground in apprehension.

Brick rolls his eyes in disinterest "Alright Ace. Sure, we'll just have it your way."

Ace barely has the time to register the artificial lights crackle and the curve of Brick's lips going upwards before he's facing the barrel of the gun pressed against his forehead.

"Guess we'll just go through the rest of your members."

The reaction is instant. Ace's eyes widen as much as they can in their swollen state, and he's wretched into a state of panic as he pictures flashes of his family. "Wait—"

A deafening shot rings out and it echoes far into the distance of the warehouse.

Ace's eyes roll back and his body slumps limply forward.

Brick sighs, long as tired. "Get someone to clean this up." He motions lazily towards Ace's body, the hole in his head fresh and there's bits of him staining the walls and floor.

Butch stares at the limp body blankly.

Buttercup knows this guy—like, really knows him.

Strangely, he can't find it within him to feel any remorse.

* * *

It takes a short shower before Butch's strolling through his wardrobe for some pyjamas (which consists of sweatpants and a random shirt he found on the couch one morning) and lazily throwing the things on.

He can still smell iron and just sees _redredred_ when he closes his eyes.

When he's dressed he's strolling down the stairs towards the kitchen.

Yawning, Boomer puts on his oven mitts and opens the oven to peer inside when Butch pops in.

"What's for dinner?" he's hit with the smell of food from the Gods and Butch already feels his mouth begin salivating.

"Mac and cheese, go set the table."

Butch lights up immediately "Sweet!" he's already spinning around to the upper cupboards and grabbing plates before skipping merrily towards the dining room.

"BRICK. WAKEY-WAKEY IT'S TIME FOR DINNER!" he bellows, setting the plates down and going back into the kitchen to grab glasses and silverware.

Boomer snorts, carrying the large dish towards the table. "If he's not coming just leave out a plate for him in the fridge. He'll come out of his room eventually."

Hilariously, Brick manages to come downstairs, scratching the back of his head and looking ready to knock out. He takes one look at the table and goes into the kitchen to grab the juice before plopping it next to the dish.

Butch looks ready to devour his food right then and there but ends up cutting out large portions and placing them onto their plates while Boomer brings back some sautéed greens as a side.

"Is Mojo eating with us tonight?" Brick asks, idly pouring tropical juice into their glasses.

Butch shrugs because he genuinely doesn't know and Boomer just blinks "Is it Wednesday?"

"No, Tuesday."

"He'll be back from Milan tomorrow morning then." Boomer says before sitting himself down comfortably and then pulling a face "Butch, you forgot the forks. How the fuck does someone forget the forks?"

Butch blinks before groaning and jumping out of his chair to grab the remaining cutlery.

"What's the old monkey doing in Milan?" he asks from the kitchen before reappearing and dumping the forks on the table before taking a large forkful of his steaming pasta.

"Same thing as usual I'm guessing." Brick shrugs uncaringly before imitating his brother's actions (only, a lot more dignified).

Boomer hums, twisting his macaroni with his fork in thought "I hope he's not going to try and get us to go with him to Citysville when he gets back. We've already missed class this week from all that hubaloo with The Gangreen gang."

"So if we didn't have classes, you'd be all for going?" Butch asks, with a mouthful of food.

Boomer makes a face of disgust—both at the thought of returning to Citysville and Butch for not being able to swallow his food before he talks. "Hell no."

Brick bites back a yawn, his mind whirling.

If Mojo was still in Milan then he had some time left to figure out just what the hell was going on within their little gang. On the other hand, he could fall into blissful slumber for the night and let his father go deal with all of that nonsense.

Honestly, the second option seemed far more appealing.

"We've got an event to go to in Citysville." He suddenly remembers, nose twitching in distaste "A charity event?" Brick pulls out his cell phone to scroll through his reminders.

"That's here in Townsville." Boomer pipes in, taking a sip of his juice "It's the charity event with the high schools in Townsville participating. I think it's in…uhh, June? Or July."

Butch snorts, disinterested "So, our school's performing?"

"Probably, yeah."

Brick just rubs his hand against his face tiredly "Joy."

"Then why are we required to go?" Boomer asks.

"School spirit?" Butch grins, turning to Brick.

"You're not required to go" he uses his fork to motion towards both of his siblings "I am. But its curtsey if you both come too."

"Hard Pass" Butch snorts before Boomer looks thoughtful "Wouldn't Townsville high be performing though?"

"And?"

"That's where Bubbles goes," he shrugs before finishing off his meal "So obviously her sisters go there. They might be performing."

Brick and Butch both pause at that. Butch's face lights up while Brick just blinks slowly as if only realising this new information now.

"Oh shit! I totally forgot about that—" Butch pulled out his cell "—Let me ask her."

Boomer just grabs his finished plate and scrapes off the remainder food into the trashcan before popping the plate into the dishwasher. Brick finishes his drink and does the same, lips pulled into a thin line.

In the distance, they could hear Butch talking _"So, are you going to be there?"_

 _(Blame Simon,_

' _Cause he said you've got two lives down and one life left._

 _Blame Simon, 'cause he said you could think better with a hole in your head)_

* * *

 **A/N: This is a super short chapter! I'm sorry but I've been at a writers block for months now so I've just been doing other stories to get out of this slump, ugh (its not working very well).**

 **Thank you to everyone whose read up till now! This is going to be a ridiculously long story, so let's all hold hands and pray for my sanity.**

 **Reviews**

 **AitchhDee:** **Damn wish my skin cleared that quick when I updated.**

 **YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO WRITE THIS. I'VE BEEN IN A SLUMP FOR EONS!**

 **Honestly, ye I love Boom and Butch LOL they're precious.**

 **Yeah, Ace was somewhat important to Buttercup. He was sort of a hole to fill when Butch was gone since she'd just entered high school when they had met. LMAOO Butch is precious, leave him be.**

 **BLESS BRICK INDEED. Even tho he is a lil crazy.**

 **ANYWAY THANKS FOR THE REVIEW TEA! LOVE YA!**

 **Guest:** **GURL/BOI YES. YOU UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING SO WELL I'M CRYING TEARS OF JOY AHHH! Your analysis is very good and if I could I'd send you a batch of cookies omg. Thank you so much for enjoying my story so far! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Rusty Charms: Thank you darling!**

 **Sabrina:** **oh my—Please give me cheesecake. I haven't had any in ages ugh. That honestly sounds so divine right now.**

 **Omg don't diet—cheesecake it far too good for that.**

 **Moving onto your review, I'm so glad you're enjoying the blues! I think the most realistic/my fav versions of Bubbles I've ever seen are from 'More Than Human by SBJ', uhh 'Serpentine by Ice Cream Queen Zshi', 'Misfortune by Leeful' and 'Donuts are apologies too by Yuigen'. Honestly—there are more but those are a few that I can name on the top of my head.**

 **I do think the blues have a lot of potential, but they're often disregarded in the fandom so I had to grab the reins and take action LMAO.**

 **Thank you so much for liking my version of Boomer too! A lot of people forget that he is a Rowdyruff boy, so he's not going to just be Bubbles with a haircut LOL.**

 **As for Boomer's feelings towards Bubbly, we're honestly just going to have to wait and see LMAO.**

 **OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ENJOYING MY STORY! SDALSJDKLJF YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUT I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE ENJOYING MY BLUES FICS AHHHH.**

 **HAVE A GOOD DAY LOVELIE!**

 **Solarmatum:** **Thank you so much! That's so kind of you! I'm glad my writing was able to pull you in, I'm really happy you're enjoying it! As for the relationships/friendships, I honestly wanted them all to be close when they were younger. I do love mixed friendships between the colours (though romantically, I prefer the regular colour coded relationships). Thank you again for dropping by and leaving a review!**

 **N. Chanel:** **Holy—GIRL I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU TOOK THE TIME TO MAKE THREE MAGNIFICIANTLY LONG REVIEWS. HONESTLY, YOU DESERVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE, UNLIMITED DESSERT AND ALL THE HUGS IN THE WORLD SDKFJSKLDFJSDKF.**

 **I'm not going to lie, I'm a little overwhelmed and have no idea where to start—BUT I'M LOVING IT! I promise you, seeing all these reviews brings my heart so much joy ugh. I love you.**

 **OKAY! To start off, with the whole ages and such it was a mistake on my part. I originally put 'seven years' because I'm British and not actually American so I'm horrendous with the education system. Then I fucked up even more and put 'six years' ugh. I'm an idiot.**

 **HERE'S THE TRUTH! I've gone over my older chapters and tried to rectify my errors. So the boys left in their final year of middle school, meaning they would've been thirteen. American High school starts off with 'Freshmen year' so they would turn fourteen. Realistically, its been five years since the Puffs and the Ruffs have seen each other as they're all in senior year now, and are in their final year of high school. The boys and girls are triplets.**

 **Honestly, I am so sorry for the amount of stress I must have put you through—I assure you that I've gone back to the first few chapters and changed it to 'five years' Since I'm an absolute British idiot. LOL.**

 **Okay! Moving on, Thank you so much for the song recommendation as well! I tried to find it, but isn't 'Metro Boomin' an artist? I tried looking on Spotify and couldn't find it strangely.**

 **Anyway, Thank you so much for liking Boomer! Honestly, girl I'm with you. I was fanning myself while writing this—ugh I've made him far too hot.**

 **AHHH! THANK YOU FOR LIKING DEXTER! I really enjoyed his cartoon when I was a child so I didn't really want to make him horrible. As for Blossom, she's always going to be 'Everything nice'. Yes, she does have some thoughts about Mitch's living area but she can't really fault him for something that is out of his control.**

 **Chapter one Brick's sort of all over the place. I did want him to start off patient when he first bumped into Blossy like you said, before ultimately deciding what course of action he should take. He is the most rational of his brothers, and honestly, you're pretty good with the analysis on him.**

 **THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ENJOYING THE STORY! It seriously means a lot that you're satisfied with any sort of word count.**

 **Moving on to your second/third reviews, Buttercup and Mitch sort of crack me up when they're together. I do think that their relationship isn't perfect but they both do share a deep caring/love for one another (Butch exists though, so we'll see how long that'll last LOL JK).**

 **I love having friendships between them which aren't colour coded! They're so fun to write and It's hilarious to see how they would interact with each other!**

 **As for Blossom not feeling 'overly-conscious' about holding onto Brick, yeah. Bubbly being missing was probably a heavy-enough loud to keep her one a one-tract mind LOL. She's not mad though, she probably did feel flustered.**

 **OMG REGARDING BOOMER'S PRODUCTS HE TOTALLY DOES CARE ABOUT HIS SKIN/HAIR CARE AND APPEARANCE! Bubbles just didn't bother asking or looking through his draws for anything LOL. I'll definitely make his appearance a thing of importance in the later chapters.**

 **Butch honestly cracks me up. Bless his jealous little heart LOOL.**

 **Yeah, poor Blossom. Yikes she probably had the time of her life waking up on chapter 3. Mitch is in the same grade as them, and he is definitely in the girls' high school. You'll learn more about his past soon, I promise.**

' **You wanna know why green light seem to circle her limbs? Yeah, mad PPG aura in the real world. That's why! You play too much, omg girl!' THIS HAD ME CRACKING UP! You're the only one who spotted it HAHAHAHA! I love you.**

 **Rip to Mitch and his burnt breakfast.**

' **lol, Mitch was *cough cough* PLAYING WITH FIRE!' LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU'RE KILLING ME CHICA!**

 **Omg thank you for finding songs for this—its so sweet ahh. I'll deffo check it out.**

 **OMG BUTCH BEING RESPECTUFL WAS HONESTLY A CHARACTERISTIC I NEVER THOUGHT I'D GIVE HIM—but life's full of surprises and honestly? He is still a little shit but he is somewhat aware of where to draw the line. Ugh. He's precious.**

 **GUUUUUUUUUUUUURL I DON'T BLAME YOU. I've made Boomer fine as hell and now we're all suffering ugh. Why do I do this to myself?**

 **ANYWAY GIRL! YOU'RE HITTING THE BALL OUTTA THE PART WITH MOST OF THESE GUESSES! GO OFF SIS OMG.**

 **I can't thank you enough for all the support and long reviews you've given! It still amazes me you've taken the time to read them! UGH THANK YOU!**

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 **ANYWAY THAT'S A WRAP FOR TODAY FOLKS! R AND R!**


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